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Accounts of an impending US-Russia presidential meeting have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

Just days after Donald Trump announced he intended to confer with Russian President Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

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

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump told the press at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a waste of time, so I will observe what happens."

• Trump states he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as President Zelensky departs Washington without results

The on-again, off-again meeting is just the latest twist in Trump's efforts to mediate 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 deal in Gaza.

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

"It is essential to get Russia resolved," he declared.

However, the circumstances 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 raging for almost several years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the key to achieving a deal was the Israeli government's decision to attack Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a action that angered America's Arab allies but gave Trump leverage to pressure Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a long record of supporting Israel since his first term, encompassing his decision to move the American embassy to the contested city, to alter America's position on the legality of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, more recently, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

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

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

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, the president has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has swung between attempts to strong-arm Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has warned to impose new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to provide Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that doing so could harm the global economy and further escalate the conflict.

Meanwhile, the US leader has criticized openly Zelensky, halting briefly information exchange with Ukraine and suspending arms shipments to the country - only to then retreat in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the entire region.

Trump loves to tout his skill to meet and negotiate agreements, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to advance the war any closer to a peaceful end.

Putin may in fact be using Trump's desire for a settlement – and faith in direct negotiations - as a means of influencing him.

During the summer, Putin consented to a summit in Alaska just as it seemed probable that the president would approve on legislative penalties supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards delayed.

Last week, as news emerged that the US administration was seriously contemplating sending Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the Russian leader called the US president who then touted the possible meeting in Budapest.

The next day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but departed empty-handed after a allegedly strained discussion.

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

"You know, I have been manipulated all my life by the best of them, and I came out really well," he remarked.

But the Ukrainian leader later made note of the sequence of events.

"As soon as the issue of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for Ukraine – the Russian side almost automatically became less engaged in diplomacy," he stated.

Thus, in a short period, the president has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to Ukraine to planning a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and confidentially urging the Ukrainian president to cede all of Donbas – even land Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has finally settled on calling for a truce along present frontlines – something Russia has refused to accept.

During his election campaign previously, Trump vowed that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has since discarded that commitment, saying that concluding the war is proving harder than he anticipated.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his power – and the challenge of establishing a peace plan when both parties desires, or is able to, give up the fight.