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

Just days after President Trump said he planned to meet Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

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

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump informed the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I'll see what transpires."

• Donald Trump says he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Letdown in Kyiv as President Zelensky leaves Washington without results

The frequently changing summit is another twist in Trump's attempts to broker an end to war in the Eastern European nation – a subject of increased attention for the US president after he orchestrated a truce and prisoner exchange agreement in Gaza.

While making remarks in Egypt recently to celebrate that truce deal, Trump turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

"It is essential to get Russia done," he said.

Nonetheless, the circumstances that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for Witkoff and his 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 achieving a agreement was the Israeli government's decision to attack representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that infuriated America's Arab allies but gave Trump leverage to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a history of supporting the Israeli state since his first term, encompassing his decision to relocate the US embassy to the contested city, to alter US policy on the lawfulness of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, more recently, his support for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The US president, in fact, is better regarded among Israelis than Netanyahu – a situation that gave him special sway over the nation's head.

Add in Trump's political and economic ties to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to secure an agreement.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, Trump has much less leverage. In recent months, he has swung between attempts to pressure Putin 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 supply the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that such actions could harm the world's financial stability and intensify the conflict.

Meanwhile, the US leader has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off information exchange with Ukraine and suspending weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then retreat in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the entire region.

The president loves to tout his skill to meet and negotiate deals, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to advance the hostilities any nearer a resolution.

The Russian president may actually be using Trump's desire for a deal – and belief in direct negotiations - as a means of manipulating him.

In July, Putin consented to a summit in the US state at the time when it seemed probable that the president would approve on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was subsequently delayed.

Recently, as reports spread that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping long-range missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the Russian leader phoned the US president who then promoted the potential meeting in Budapest.

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

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

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

But the Ukrainian leader subsequently commented on the sequence of events.

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

So, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and privately pressuring the Ukrainian president to cede all of Donbas – even territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has finally settled on calling for a ceasefire along current battle lines – something Russia has rejected.

On the campaign trail previously, Trump promised that he could end the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has since abandoned that pledge, admitting that concluding the hostilities is turning out harder than he anticipated.

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