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

Just days after Donald Trump announced he planned to confer with Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

A initial get-together by the two nations' top diplomats has been cancelled, as well.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump told reporters at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a waste of time, so I'll see what transpires."

• Trump states he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves White House empty-handed

The frequently changing summit is just the latest development in Trump's efforts to broker an end to hostilities in Ukraine – a topic of increased attention for the American leader after he orchestrated a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in Egypt last week to commemorate that truce deal, the president addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

"We have to get Russia resolved," he declared.

However, the conditions that aligned to make a Middle East success achievable for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for nearing four years.

Reduced Influence

According to the lead negotiator, the key to achieving a deal was Israel's move to strike Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a action that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave the president leverage to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president benefited from a long record of siding with Israel since his first term, encompassing his decision to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem, to change America's position on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, more recently, his backing for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The American leader, in fact, is more popular among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a position that gave him special sway over the Israeli leader.

Add in 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 deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, the president has much less leverage. In recent months, he has swung between efforts to strong-arm Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that such actions could harm the world's financial stability and further escalate the war.

At the same time, the president has publicly berated Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with the country and suspending arms shipments to the nation - only to then back off in the face of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the entire region.

The president loves to tout his skill to sit down and hammer out deals, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the war any closer to a peaceful end.

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

In July, 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 legislative penalties backed by GOP senators. That bill was subsequently put on hold.

Recently, as news emerged that the US administration was seriously contemplating sending long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the president of Russia called the US president who then touted the potential summit in Budapest.

The next day, the president welcomed Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but left without agreements after a reportedly tense meeting.

Trump insisted that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

"You know, I've been played throughout my career by skilled operators, and I emerged successfully," he remarked.

But the president of Ukraine later made note of the sequence of events.

"Once the issue of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for Ukraine – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less engaged in diplomacy," he said.

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to Ukraine to organizing a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and confidentially pressuring the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – even territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately settled on calling for a ceasefire along current battle lines – something Russia has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail last year, Trump vowed that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has subsequently abandoned that pledge, admitting that concluding the war is proving harder than he expected.

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