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Accounts of an upcoming American-Russian presidential meeting have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

Just days after Donald Trump said he planned to meet Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been put off without a new date.

A initial get-together by the both countries' leading diplomats has been called off, too.

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

• Donald Trump says he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky leaves Washington without results

The on-again, off-again summit is another twist in the president's efforts to mediate an end to hostilities in Ukraine – a subject of increased attention for the American leader after he arranged a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in the North African country recently to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, Trump addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

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

Nonetheless, the circumstances that converged to make a Middle East success achievable for the negotiation team may be difficult to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for almost several years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the crucial element to achieving a deal was the Israeli government's move to strike representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but provided the president leverage to compel Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a long record of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his initial presidency, including his choice to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change America's position on the legality of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, more recently, his support for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

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

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

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

Trump has warned to impose new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to supply the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could harm the global economy and further escalate the war.

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

Trump loves to tout his skill to sit down and hammer out deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the hostilities any closer to a resolution.

Putin may actually be using Trump's desire for a deal – and faith in in-person deal-making - as a method of influencing him.

In July, Russia's leader consented to a summit in Alaska just as it appeared likely that the president would sign off on congressional sanctions package supported by GOP senators. That legislation was subsequently put on hold.

Last week, as reports spread that the US administration was considering seriously sending Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the president of Russia phoned Trump who then touted the potential meeting in Hungary.

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

The US leader maintained that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

"You know, I've been played all my life by skilled operators, and I emerged really well," he said.

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

"As soon as the matter of long-range mobility became a little further away for us – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less interested in diplomacy," he said.

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and confidentially urging the Ukrainian president to cede all of Donbas – including territory Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has finally settled on calling for a truce along present frontlines – a proposal Russia has rejected.

On the campaign trail previously, Trump promised that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has since abandoned that commitment, admitting that concluding the hostilities is turning out harder than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his power – and the challenge of establishing a framework for peace when neither side wants, or is able to, cease hostilities.