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Accounts of an upcoming American-Russian presidential meeting have been overstated, apparently.

Only a few days after Donald Trump said he intended to meet Russia's leader Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

A preliminary get-together by the both countries' top diplomats has been called off, too.

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump told reporters at the White House on a recent weekday. "I don't want a waste of time, so I'll see what transpires."

• Trump says he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after plan for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as President Zelensky departs Washington empty-handed

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest development in the president's attempts to broker an conclusion to war in Ukraine – a subject of renewed focus for the American leader after he arranged a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in the North African country recently to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, Trump addressed Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

"We have to get the Russian situation resolved," he declared.

However, the circumstances that converged to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for the negotiation team may be difficult to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for almost four years.

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the key to unlocking a deal was the Israeli government's decision to attack representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that angered US partners in the Arab world but provided the president bargaining power to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

Trump benefited from a history of siding with the Israeli state since his initial presidency, encompassing his decision to relocate the US embassy to the contested city, to alter US policy on the legality of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his backing for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The American leader, in fact, is more popular among Israelis than Netanyahu – a situation that gave him special sway over the Israeli leader.

Combine the president's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to force an deal.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, Trump has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between attempts to strong-arm the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has warned to enact new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to provide Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that such actions could harm the world's financial stability and intensify the conflict.

At the same time, the US leader has publicly berated Zelensky, halting briefly information exchange with the country and suspending arms shipments to the country - only to then back off in the face of concerned European allies who caution a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the whole area.

The president often boasts about his ability to meet and hammer out deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to advance the war any nearer a peaceful end.

The Russian president may actually be using the US leader's wish for a settlement – and faith in in-person deal-making - as a method of manipulating him.

During the summer, Putin consented to a summit in the US state just as it seemed probable that Trump would sign off on legislative penalties backed by GOP senators. That legislation was afterwards put on hold.

Last week, as news emerged that the White House was considering seriously shipping long-range missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the Russian leader phoned the US president who then touted the potential meeting in Hungary.

The following day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but left without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

Trump insisted that he was not being played by Putin.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated throughout my career by the best of them, and I emerged really well," he said.

But the president of Ukraine later commented on the timeline of developments.

"Once the issue of advanced weaponry became a little further away for Ukraine – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less interested in diplomacy," he said.

Thus, in a short period, the president has bounced from considering the idea of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to organizing a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and privately urging the Ukrainian president to cede all of Donbas – including territory Russia has been unable to conquer.

He has ultimately decided on advocating a truce along current battle lines – a proposal the Russian government has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail last year, the candidate promised that he could end the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that commitment, admitting that ending the war is proving harder than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the limits of his power – and the difficulty of finding a peace plan when both parties wants, or is able to, cease hostilities.