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

Just days after President Trump said he intended to meet Russian President Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

A preliminary get-together by the both countries' leading diplomats has been called off, as well.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," President Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I will observe what happens."

• Trump states he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for Putin talks postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as President Zelensky leaves Washington without results

The on-again, off-again meeting is another development in Trump's attempts to mediate an end to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a subject of renewed focus for the American leader after he arranged a ceasefire and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

During a speech in Egypt last week to celebrate that truce deal, Trump addressed Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

"We have to get the Russian situation done," he said.

Nonetheless, the circumstances that converged to make a Middle East success possible for Witkoff and his team may be challenging to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for nearing four years.

Reduced Influence

According to the lead negotiator, the crucial element to unlocking a deal was the Israeli government's move to strike representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a move that angered America's Arab allies but provided Trump bargaining power to compel Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president benefited 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 change US policy on the legality of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his backing for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The US president, actually, is better regarded among the Israeli public 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 area, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to secure an agreement.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, the president has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has threatened to enact additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to provide the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could harm the global economy and further escalate the war.

At the same time, the president has publicly berated Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and suspending weapon deliveries to the country - only to then retreat in the wake of worried European partners who caution a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the entire region.

The president often boasts about his ability to sit down and hammer out deals, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to advance the war any nearer a peaceful end.

Putin may in fact be using Trump's desire for a settlement – and faith in direct negotiations - as a method of manipulating him.

During the summer, Russia's leader consented to a high-level meeting in the US state at the time when it seemed probable that Trump would approve on congressional sanctions package supported by GOP senators. That bill was afterwards put on hold.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the president of Russia called Trump who then touted the potential summit in Budapest.

The following day, the president hosted Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but left empty-handed after a reportedly strained discussion.

Trump maintained that he was not being played by Putin.

"You know, I've been played throughout my career by skilled operators, and I came out successfully," he said.

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

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a little further away for Ukraine – for Ukraine – the Russian side almost automatically became less interested in negotiations," he said.

So, in a short period, the president has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to Ukraine to planning a Budapest summit with Putin and confidentially pressuring the Ukrainian president to cede all of Donbas – including land Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately decided on calling for a ceasefire along current battle lines – a proposal the Russian government has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail last year, the candidate vowed that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has subsequently abandoned that pledge, admitting that concluding the hostilities is proving more difficult than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the limits of his power – and the challenge of finding a framework for peace when neither side desires, or is able to, give up the fight.