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

Only a few 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 preliminary meeting by the both countries' top diplomats has been called off, too.

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

• Trump says he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as Zelensky departs Washington without results

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest twist in Trump's attempts to mediate an conclusion to war in the Eastern European nation – a topic of increased attention for the American leader after he orchestrated a truce and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

While making remarks in Egypt last week to commemorate that truce deal, Trump addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

"We have to get the Russian situation done," he declared.

Nonetheless, the circumstances that aligned to make a Middle East success achievable for Witkoff and his team may be challenging to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for almost several years.

Less Leverage

According to the lead negotiator, the key to unlocking a deal was Israel's decision to attack representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a move that angered US partners in the Arab world but provided Trump bargaining power to compel Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a long record of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his first term, encompassing his choice to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change America's position on the legality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, in recent times, his backing for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, in fact, is better regarded among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a position that gave him unique influence over the nation's head.

Add in Trump's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to secure an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, Trump has much less influence. Over the past nine months, he has swung between efforts to pressure Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has threatened to impose new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to provide Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could harm the world's financial stability and further escalate the conflict.

At the same time, the US leader has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off information exchange with the country and suspending weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then retreat in the face of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the entire region.

The president often boasts about his ability to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the hostilities any closer to a peaceful end.

Putin may in fact be exploiting Trump's desire 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 Alaska at the time when it appeared likely that the president would sign off on congressional sanctions package supported by GOP senators. That bill was afterwards delayed.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping long-range missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the Russian leader called the US president who then touted the potential summit in Budapest.

The following day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the White House, but departed without agreements after a allegedly tense meeting.

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

"As you are aware, I've been played throughout my career by skilled operators, and I emerged really well," he said.

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

"As soon as the issue of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for Ukraine – for our nation – the Russian side almost automatically became less interested in diplomacy," he said.

Thus, in a short period, the president has shifted from considering the idea of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and privately urging Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – even land Russian forces has been failed to capture.

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

During his election campaign last year, Trump vowed that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that pledge, admitting that ending the hostilities is turning out more difficult than he anticipated.

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