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Reports of an impending American-Russian presidential meeting have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

Only a few days after Donald Trump announced he planned to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

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

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump informed the press at the executive mansion 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 'unproductive session' after plan for Putin talks shelved
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky departs Washington without results

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest development in the president's efforts to mediate an conclusion to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a truce and prisoner exchange deal in Gaza.

While making remarks in the North African country last week to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, the president turned to Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

"It is essential to get the Russian situation done," he said.

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

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the key 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 gave the president leverage to compel Israel's leader Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a long record of siding with Israel dating back to his initial presidency, encompassing his choice to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, to alter US policy on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his backing for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The American leader, actually, is more popular among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a position that provided him with unique influence over the Israeli leader.

Add in the president's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the region, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to force an deal.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, Trump has much less influence. In recent months, he has vacillated between attempts to strong-arm the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has threatened to enact new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to provide the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that such actions could harm the global economy and intensify the conflict.

At the same time, the US leader has publicly berated Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and suspending arms shipments to the country - 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 ability to meet and hammer out deals, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to move the hostilities any closer to a resolution.

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

During the summer, Putin consented to a high-level meeting in Alaska at the time when it seemed probable that Trump would approve on legislative penalties backed by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards put on hold.

Last week, as news emerged that the US administration was seriously contemplating sending long-range missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the Russian leader called the US president who then promoted the possible summit in Budapest.

The following day, the president hosted Zelensky at the White House, but departed empty-handed after a allegedly tense meeting.

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

"You know, I have been manipulated all my life by skilled operators, and I came out successfully," he remarked.

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

"Once the issue of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for our nation – Russia quickly became less interested in diplomacy," he stated.

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has shifted from considering the idea of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and privately pressuring the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – including territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately settled on advocating a truce along present frontlines – a proposal the Russian government has refused to accept.

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

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his power – and the difficulty of finding a framework for peace when neither side wants, or can afford to, give up the fight.