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Accounts of an upcoming US-Russia presidential summit have been overstated, apparently.

Only a few days after President Trump announced he planned to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

A initial meeting by the two nations' leading diplomats has been cancelled, as well.

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump informed the press at the White House on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I will observe what happens."

• Trump states he did not want a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky departs Washington without results

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest twist in the president's efforts to broker an conclusion to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a subject of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in the North African country last week to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, the president addressed Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

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

However, the circumstances that aligned to make a Middle East success achievable for the negotiation team may be difficult to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for almost several years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the key to unlocking a deal was Israel's decision to attack representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a action that angered US partners in the Arab world but provided Trump leverage to pressure Israel's leader Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a history of siding with Israel dating back to his initial presidency, encompassing his choice to move the US embassy to the contested city, to alter America's position on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, more recently, his support for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, actually, is more popular among Israelis than Netanyahu – a position that gave him special sway over the nation's head.

Combine the president's connections in politics and business to key Arab players in the region, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to secure an deal.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, Trump has much less leverage. In recent months, he has vacillated between attempts to pressure the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has threatened to enact new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to supply the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could disrupt the global economy and intensify the war.

At the same time, the president has criticized openly Zelensky, temporarily cutting off information exchange with the country and pausing weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then back off in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the whole area.

Trump loves to tout his ability to meet and negotiate deals, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to move the war any nearer a peaceful end.

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

In July, Russia's leader agreed to a high-level meeting in Alaska at the time when it seemed probable that the president would approve on legislative penalties supported by Senate Republicans. That bill was afterwards put on hold.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was considering seriously shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the Russian leader called Trump who then touted the possible summit in Hungary.

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

The US leader insisted that he was not being played by Putin.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated all my life by the best of them, and I emerged successfully," he said.

But the president of Ukraine subsequently made note of the timeline of developments.

"As soon as the matter of long-range mobility became a less accessible for us – for Ukraine – Russia almost automatically became less engaged in diplomacy," he said.

So, in a short period, the president has shifted from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a Budapest summit with Putin and privately pressuring the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – even land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has finally decided on advocating a truce along present frontlines – something Russia has rejected.

During his election campaign previously, the candidate promised that he could end the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has since abandoned that pledge, admitting that ending the war is proving more difficult than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his authority – and the challenge of establishing a framework for peace when neither side desires, or is able to, cease hostilities.