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Accounts of an upcoming US-Russia leadership meeting have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

Only a few 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 suspended indefinitely.

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

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump informed the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I'll see what transpires."

• Trump states he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after plan for Putin talks postponed
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky departs White House without results

The on-again, off-again summit is another development in the president's attempts to mediate an end to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a topic of increased attention for the US president after he arranged a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza.

During a speech in Egypt last week to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, Trump addressed Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

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

However, the conditions that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for the negotiation team may be challenging to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for nearing several years.

Reduced Influence

Per Witkoff, the key to achieving a deal was Israel's decision to strike Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a move that angered US partners in the Arab world but provided Trump bargaining power to pressure Israel's leader Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president gained from a long record of supporting Israel since his first term, including his decision to move the American embassy to the contested city, to alter US policy on the lawfulness of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, more recently, his backing for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The American leader, in fact, is more popular among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a position that gave him unique influence over the nation's head.

Add in the president's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a wealth of diplomatic muscle to force an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, Trump has much less leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to strong-arm Putin and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has warned to impose additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to provide Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could harm the global economy and further escalate the conflict.

Meanwhile, the US leader has publicly berated Zelensky, halting briefly information exchange with the country and suspending weapon deliveries to the nation - then to back off in the face of worried European partners who warn a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the whole area.

The president often boasts about his ability to sit down and negotiate agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to move the hostilities any closer to a peaceful end.

The Russian president may in fact be exploiting Trump's desire for a settlement – and belief in in-person deal-making - as a method of manipulating him.

In July, Russia's leader agreed to a summit in the US state at the time when it appeared likely that the president would approve on legislative penalties backed by GOP senators. That legislation was subsequently delayed.

Recently, as reports spread that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the Russian leader called the US president who then touted the possible meeting in Budapest.

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

Trump maintained that he was not being played by Putin.

"You know, I've been played all my life by skilled operators, and I came out successfully," he remarked.

But the Ukrainian leader subsequently commented on the sequence of events.

"As soon as the matter of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for our nation – Russia almost automatically became less engaged in diplomacy," he stated.

So, in a short period, Trump has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to Ukraine to organizing a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and privately urging Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – including land Russia has been failed to capture.

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

During his election campaign previously, the candidate vowed that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has subsequently abandoned that pledge, saying that concluding the war is turning out more difficult than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his power – and the difficulty of finding a framework for peace when both parties desires, or is able to, give up the fight.