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Reports of an impending American-Russian leadership meeting have been overstated, apparently.

Just days after Donald Trump said he planned to confer with Russian President Vladimir 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' leading diplomats has been called off, as well.

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump told reporters at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I'll see what happens."

• Donald Trump states he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after plan for Putin talks shelved
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky departs Washington without results

The on-again, off-again meeting is just the latest development in Trump's attempts to broker an conclusion to hostilities in Ukraine – a subject of increased attention for the American leader after he orchestrated a truce and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

During a speech in Egypt last week to commemorate that truce deal, the president turned to Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

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

Nonetheless, the circumstances that converged to make a Middle East success possible for the negotiation team may be challenging to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for almost four years.

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the crucial element to unlocking a deal was the Israeli government's decision to attack Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a move that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave Trump bargaining power to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president gained from a history of siding with the Israeli state dating back to his initial presidency, encompassing his decision to move the US embassy to the contested city, to alter America's position on the legality of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, more recently, his backing for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, actually, is better regarded among Israelis than their prime minister – a position that provided him with special sway over the nation's head.

Add in the president's political and economic ties to influential Arab nations in the area, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to force an deal.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, Trump has much less leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure Putin and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has warned to enact new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to provide Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could disrupt the global economy and further escalate the conflict.

At the same time, the president has publicly berated Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then back off in the wake of concerned European allies who warn a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the whole area.

The president loves to tout his ability to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to advance the war any closer to a resolution.

The Russian president may in fact be exploiting the US leader's wish for a settlement – and belief in in-person deal-making - as a method of influencing him.

During the summer, Russia's leader consented to a summit in the US state at the time when it appeared likely that Trump would sign off on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was subsequently put on hold.

Last week, as reports spread that the US administration was seriously contemplating shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the Russian leader phoned the US president who then promoted the potential meeting in Hungary.

The following day, the president hosted Ukraine's leader at the White House, but left without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

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 successfully," he said.

However the president of Ukraine later commented on the sequence of events.

"As soon as the matter of advanced weaponry became a little further away for Ukraine – for our nation – Russia almost automatically became less interested in diplomacy," he stated.

Thus, in a matter of days, the president has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to organizing a Budapest summit with Putin and privately pressuring the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – even land Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

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

During his election campaign previously, the candidate promised that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that pledge, admitting that ending the war is proving harder than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his authority – and the difficulty of finding a framework for peace when neither side desires, or is able to, give up the fight.