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Accounts of an impending US-Russia presidential summit have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

Only a few days after President Trump announced he planned to meet Russian President Vladimir 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' leading diplomats has been cancelled, too.

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

• Trump states he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as Zelensky departs White House empty-handed

The frequently changing summit is another development in Trump's efforts to broker an conclusion to war in Ukraine – a topic of increased attention for the American leader after he arranged a truce and hostage release deal in Gaza.

During a speech in the North African country recently to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, Trump turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

"It is essential to get the Russian situation done," he declared.

However, the conditions that aligned to make a Middle East success achievable for the negotiation team may be challenging to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for almost four years.

Reduced Influence

Per Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a deal was Israel's move to strike representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but gave Trump leverage to pressure Israel's leader Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a long record of siding with Israel since his initial presidency, including his choice to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the lawfulness of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, more recently, his support for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, actually, is better regarded among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a situation that provided him with special sway over the nation's head.

Combine Trump's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the region, and he had a wealth of diplomatic muscle to secure an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, Trump has much less influence. In recent months, he has swung between attempts to strong-arm the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has threatened to impose additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to provide Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that such actions could harm the global economy and intensify the conflict.

At the same time, the president has publicly berated Zelensky, temporarily cutting off information exchange with the country and suspending weapon deliveries to the country - only to then retreat in the face of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the entire region.

Trump often boasts about his ability to sit down and negotiate deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to move the war any nearer a resolution.

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

During the summer, Russia's leader agreed to a high-level meeting in Alaska at the time when it seemed probable that Trump would approve on congressional sanctions package backed by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards delayed.

Last week, as news emerged that the US administration was considering seriously sending long-range missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the Russian leader phoned the US president who then touted the possible summit in Hungary.

The next day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the White House, but left empty-handed after a allegedly tense meeting.

Trump insisted that he was not being manipulated by the Russian president.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated throughout my career by skilled operators, and I came out successfully," he said.

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

"As soon as the issue of advanced weaponry became a little further away for us – for Ukraine – Russia quickly became less interested in diplomacy," he stated.

So, in a matter of days, the president has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Putin and confidentially pressuring the Ukrainian president to surrender the entire Donbas region – including land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has finally settled on advocating a truce along present frontlines – something the Russian government has rejected.

On the campaign trail last year, Trump promised that he could end the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has subsequently abandoned that pledge, admitting that concluding the war is turning out more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a uncommon admission of the limits of his power – and the difficulty of finding a framework for peace when neither side desires, or is able to, cease hostilities.