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Accounts of an upcoming US-Russia leadership meeting have been overstated, apparently.

Only a few days after Donald Trump announced he intended to meet Russian President Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks 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 wasted meeting," Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I will observe what transpires."

• Donald Trump says he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as Zelensky leaves Washington empty-handed

The frequently changing summit is just the latest development in the president's attempts to broker an conclusion to war in Ukraine – a subject of increased attention for the American leader after he orchestrated a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza.

During a speech in the North African country last week to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, the president turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

"We have to get the Russian situation resolved," he said.

However, the circumstances that aligned to make a Middle East success achievable for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for almost four years.

Reduced Influence

According to the lead negotiator, the crucial element to unlocking a deal was Israel's decision to attack Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a move that infuriated America's Arab allies but provided the president leverage to compel Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump gained from a long record of siding with Israel dating back to his initial presidency, including his choice to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the lawfulness of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, in recent times, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The US president, actually, is better regarded among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a situation that provided him with unique influence over the Israeli leader.

Combine Trump's connections in politics and business to key Arab players in the region, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to force an agreement.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, Trump has much less influence. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between attempts to pressure the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader 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 doing so could disrupt the world's financial stability and further escalate the war.

Meanwhile, the president has criticized openly Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with the country and suspending arms shipments to the nation - then to retreat in the face of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the whole area.

Trump often boasts about his skill to sit down and negotiate agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to move the hostilities any closer to a peaceful end.

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

In July, Russia's leader agreed to a summit in Alaska at the time when it seemed probable that Trump would approve on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was subsequently put on hold.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the president of Russia phoned the US president who then promoted the possible summit in Hungary.

The next day, Trump welcomed Zelensky at the executive residence, but left empty-handed after a reportedly tense meeting.

Trump maintained that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

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

However the president of Ukraine subsequently commented on the timeline of developments.

"As soon as the issue of long-range mobility became a little further away for us – for Ukraine – Russia almost automatically became less engaged in negotiations," he stated.

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to organizing a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and confidentially urging Zelensky to cede all of Donbas – even territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has finally decided on advocating a ceasefire along current battle lines – a proposal Russia has rejected.

During his election campaign previously, Trump vowed that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has subsequently discarded that commitment, saying that ending the war is turning out more difficult than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his power – and the difficulty of finding a peace plan when both parties desires, or can afford to, give up the fight.