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Accounts of an impending US-Russia leadership summit have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

Only a few days after Donald Trump said he planned to confer with Russian President Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

A preliminary meeting by the two nations' leading diplomats has been cancelled, too.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump informed reporters at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I don't want a waste of time, so I will observe what transpires."

• Trump says he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for Putin talks shelved
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves Washington empty-handed

The frequently changing meeting is just the latest twist in Trump's attempts to broker an end to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a subject of increased attention for the American leader after he orchestrated a truce and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

While making remarks in Egypt recently to celebrate that truce deal, the president turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

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

Nonetheless, the conditions that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for almost four years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the crucial element to achieving a deal was the Israeli government's decision to strike representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a move that angered America's Arab allies but provided the president leverage to compel Israel's leader Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a history of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his first term, including his choice to move the American embassy to the contested city, to alter US policy on the lawfulness of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his support for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

The American leader, actually, is better regarded among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a position that provided him with unique influence over the nation's head.

Add in the president's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to secure an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, the president has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to strong-arm the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has threatened to enact new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that doing so could harm the world's financial stability and further escalate the war.

Meanwhile, the president has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off information exchange with the country and pausing arms shipments to the country - only to then back off in the face of concerned European allies who warn a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the entire region.

Trump loves to tout his skill to meet and hammer out agreements, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to move the hostilities any closer to a resolution.

The Russian president may actually be using Trump's desire for a deal – and faith in in-person deal-making - as a means of influencing him.

During the summer, Russia's leader agreed to a high-level meeting in the US state at the time when it appeared likely that Trump would sign off on congressional sanctions package supported by GOP senators. That legislation was afterwards delayed.

Recently, as reports spread that the US administration was seriously contemplating shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the president of Russia phoned Trump who then touted the possible meeting in Budapest.

The following day, the president hosted Ukraine's leader at the White House, but left without agreements after a reportedly strained discussion.

Trump maintained that he was not being played by Putin.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated all my life by skilled operators, and I came out successfully," he remarked.

However the Ukrainian leader subsequently made note of the sequence of events.

"As soon as the matter of long-range mobility became a less accessible for us – for Ukraine – the Russian side quickly became less engaged in diplomacy," he stated.

So, in a short period, the president has bounced from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a meeting in Hungary with Putin and confidentially urging Zelensky to cede all of Donbas – including territory Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has ultimately decided on advocating a ceasefire along present frontlines – something Russia has rejected.

On the campaign trail last year, the candidate vowed that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has subsequently discarded that pledge, admitting that concluding the hostilities is proving harder than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his power – and the difficulty of finding a peace plan when neither side desires, or can afford to, give up the fight.