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Reports of an impending US-Russia presidential summit have been overstated, it seems.

Only a few days after President Trump announced he planned to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

A preliminary meeting by the two nations' leading diplomats has been called off, as well.

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump informed the press at the White House on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I will observe what transpires."

• Donald Trump states he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for Putin talks shelved
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky leaves Washington without results

The frequently changing meeting is just the latest development in the president's attempts to broker an end to war in Ukraine – a subject of renewed focus for the US president after he arranged a truce and hostage release deal in Gaza.

During a speech in the North African country last week to celebrate that truce deal, Trump turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

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

Nonetheless, the circumstances that converged to make a Middle East success achievable for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for nearing four years.

Less Leverage

According to Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was Israel's move to attack representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a move that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but provided the president bargaining power to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

Trump gained from a long record of siding with the Israeli state since his first term, encompassing his choice to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the legality of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The American leader, in fact, is more popular among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a situation that provided him with special sway over the nation's head.

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

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, the president has much less leverage. In recent months, he has swung between attempts to strong-arm Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has warned to enact additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that such actions could disrupt the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the US leader has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off information exchange with Ukraine and pausing arms shipments to the nation - only to then back off in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the whole area.

The president often boasts about his skill to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to move the war any closer to a peaceful end.

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

During the summer, Russia's leader consented to a high-level meeting in Alaska just as it seemed probable that Trump would approve on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That bill was afterwards put on hold.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the Russian leader phoned the US president who then promoted the potential meeting in Budapest.

The next day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but left empty-handed after a allegedly strained discussion.

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

"As you are aware, I've been played throughout my career by the best of them, and I emerged really well," he remarked.

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

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

So, in a short period, the president has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a Budapest summit with Putin and confidentially pressuring the Ukrainian president to surrender the entire Donbas region – including land Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has finally decided on advocating a ceasefire along present frontlines – a proposal Russia has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail previously, the candidate vowed that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has subsequently 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 power – and the difficulty of establishing a framework for peace when both parties desires, or can afford to, cease hostilities.