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

Only a few days after President Trump said he intended to meet Russia's leader Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

A preliminary get-together by the both countries' top diplomats has been called off, as well.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump told the press at the White House on a recent weekday. "I don't want a waste of time, so I'll see what transpires."

• Donald Trump states he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as Zelensky leaves White House without results

The on-again, off-again summit is another development in the president's attempts to broker an conclusion to hostilities in Ukraine – a subject of increased attention for the American leader after he arranged a ceasefire and hostage release agreement in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in the North African country last week to celebrate that truce deal, the president addressed Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

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

However, the conditions that aligned 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 nearing several years.

Less Leverage

According to the lead negotiator, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was the Israeli government's decision to attack representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a move that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but provided Trump bargaining power to compel Israel's leader Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump gained from a history of supporting the Israeli state since his first term, including his decision to relocate the US embassy to the contested city, to alter America's position on the lawfulness of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, more recently, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The US president, actually, is more popular among Israelis than Netanyahu – a position that gave him special sway over the Israeli leader.

Add in Trump's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the region, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to force an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, the president has much less influence. In recent months, he has vacillated between efforts to strong-arm Putin and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has warned to impose new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that doing so could disrupt the world's financial stability and further escalate the conflict.

Meanwhile, the US leader has criticized openly Zelensky, temporarily cutting off information exchange with the country and suspending weapon deliveries to the country - then to back off in the face of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the whole area.

Trump often boasts about his skill to meet and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to advance the hostilities any nearer a resolution.

Putin may actually be exploiting Trump's desire for a settlement – and faith in in-person deal-making - as a means of manipulating him.

During the summer, Russia's leader consented to a summit in Alaska at the time when it appeared likely that the president would sign off on legislative penalties backed by Senate Republicans. That legislation was subsequently put on hold.

Recently, as news emerged that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the president of Russia called the US president who then touted the possible summit in Budapest.

The following day, Trump hosted Zelensky at the executive residence, but departed empty-handed after a allegedly tense meeting.

Trump insisted 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 successfully," he remarked.

But the Ukrainian leader later commented on the timeline of developments.

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

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has shifted from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a Budapest summit with Putin and confidentially urging the Ukrainian president to surrender the entire Donbas region – including territory Russia has been failed to capture.

He has finally settled on calling for a ceasefire along current battle lines – something Russia has rejected.

During his election campaign last year, Trump vowed that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has since abandoned that commitment, admitting that concluding the hostilities is proving more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his authority – and the challenge of finding a peace plan when both parties wants, or is able to, cease hostilities.