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

Only a few days after President Trump announced he planned to confer with Russia's leader Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been put off without a new date.

A preliminary meeting by the two nations' top diplomats has been called off, too.

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump told reporters at the White House on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I'll see what transpires."

• Trump states he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after plan for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves Washington without results

The frequently changing meeting is another development in the president's attempts to mediate an conclusion to war in Ukraine – a subject of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in Gaza.

During a speech in Egypt recently to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, Trump addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

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

However, the circumstances that aligned to make a Middle East success achievable for the negotiation team may be difficult to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for almost several years.

Less Leverage

According to Witkoff, the key to unlocking a deal was the Israeli government's decision to strike representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave Trump bargaining power to compel Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a long record of siding with the Israeli state dating back to his first term, encompassing his choice to relocate the American embassy to the contested city, to change US policy on the legality of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, more recently, his backing for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The American leader, in fact, is better regarded among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a situation that gave him unique influence over the Israeli leader.

Combine the president's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the area, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to force an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, Trump has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between attempts to strong-arm the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has warned to impose new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to supply the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that such actions could harm the global economy and intensify the conflict.

At the same time, the US leader has criticized openly Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and pausing weapon deliveries to the country - then to back off in the wake of worried European partners who warn a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the entire region.

The president loves to tout his ability to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the war any nearer a resolution.

The Russian president may in fact be using Trump's desire for a settlement – and belief in direct negotiations - as a method of influencing him.

In July, Putin consented to a summit in the US state at the time when it appeared likely that the president would approve on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was subsequently delayed.

Last week, as reports spread that the US administration was considering seriously shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the president of Russia phoned Trump who then touted the potential meeting in Budapest.

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

The US leader insisted that he was not being played by the Russian president.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated throughout my career by the best of them, and I came out successfully," he remarked.

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

"Once the matter of long-range mobility became a little further away for us – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less interested in negotiations," he said.

Thus, in a short period, Trump has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and confidentially urging the Ukrainian president to surrender the entire Donbas region – even land Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately settled on calling for a truce along present frontlines – something Russia has rejected.

During his election campaign last year, the candidate promised that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has since abandoned that pledge, saying that ending the war is turning out harder than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his power – and the difficulty of finding a peace plan when neither side desires, or can afford to, give up the fight.