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Reports of an impending US-Russia leadership meeting have been overstated, apparently.

Just days after Donald Trump said he planned to confer with Russian President Putin in the Hungarian capital - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

A initial get-together by the both countries' top diplomats has been cancelled, too.

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump told reporters at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I don't want a waste of time, so I'll see what happens."

• Donald Trump states he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after plan for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as Zelensky departs White House empty-handed

The on-again, off-again summit is another development in the president's attempts 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 hostage release agreement in Gaza.

During a speech in the North African country last week to commemorate that truce deal, 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 challenging to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for nearing several years.

Less Leverage

Per Witkoff, the key to unlocking a deal was the Israeli government's move to attack Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a action that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but gave Trump bargaining power to pressure Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president benefited from a history of siding with the Israeli state since his initial presidency, including his choice to relocate the US embassy to the contested city, to alter US policy on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, more recently, his support for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, in fact, is better regarded among Israelis than Netanyahu – a position that gave him special sway over the nation's head.

Add in Trump's connections in politics and business to key Arab players in the area, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to secure an deal.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, the president has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has warned to enact additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to provide Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that such actions could harm the global economy and further escalate the war.

At the same time, the president has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and suspending weapon deliveries to the nation - then to back off in the face of concerned European allies who warn 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 the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to move the war any nearer a resolution.

Putin may actually be exploiting the US leader's wish for a settlement – and faith in direct negotiations - as a method of manipulating him.

During the summer, Putin agreed to a summit in the US state just as it seemed probable that the president would sign off on congressional sanctions package supported by GOP senators. That bill was subsequently delayed.

Last week, as news emerged that the White House was seriously contemplating sending long-range missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the president of Russia called the US president who then promoted the possible summit in Hungary.

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

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

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated throughout my career by skilled operators, and I emerged really well," he remarked.

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

"As soon as the matter of advanced weaponry became a little further away for us – for Ukraine – the Russian side quickly became less interested in negotiations," he said.

Thus, in a short period, Trump has shifted from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Putin and privately urging the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – even land Russia has been failed to capture.

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

On the campaign trail previously, the candidate vowed that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has since abandoned that commitment, admitting that ending the war is turning out harder than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his power – and the difficulty of establishing a peace plan when neither side desires, or is able to, give up the fight.