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Accounts of an impending American-Russian presidential meeting have been overstated, apparently.

Just days after Donald Trump said he intended to confer with Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

A initial meeting by the both countries' top diplomats has been called off, as well.

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump informed reporters at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a waste of time, so I'll see what happens."

• Donald Trump says he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for Putin talks postponed
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as Zelensky leaves White House without results

The on-again, off-again meeting is another development in the president's attempts to broker an conclusion to hostilities in Ukraine – a subject of increased attention for the US president after he orchestrated a truce and prisoner exchange agreement in Gaza.

While making remarks in the North African country last week to celebrate that truce deal, Trump addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

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

Nonetheless, the circumstances that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for nearing several years.

Less Leverage

According to Witkoff, the crucial element to achieving a deal was Israel's decision to strike Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a action that infuriated America's Arab allies but provided the president bargaining power to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a history of supporting Israel dating back to his initial presidency, encompassing his decision to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the legality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, more recently, his backing for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, actually, is more popular among Israelis than Netanyahu – a situation that provided him with unique influence over the Israeli leader.

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

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, the president has much less influence. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between attempts to strong-arm Putin and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has threatened to enact additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to supply Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could disrupt the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

At the same time, the US leader has criticized openly Ukraine's president, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then back off in the face of concerned European allies who warn a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the entire region.

The president often boasts about his skill to meet and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the war any closer to a peaceful end.

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

In July, Putin agreed to a high-level meeting in the US state at the time when it seemed probable that Trump would approve on legislative penalties supported by GOP senators. That legislation was subsequently put on hold.

Recently, as news emerged that the US administration was seriously contemplating sending long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the Russian leader called Trump who then promoted the potential summit in Budapest.

The next day, the president hosted Zelensky at the executive residence, but left without agreements after a reportedly strained discussion.

Trump maintained that he was not being manipulated by the Russian president.

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

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

"As soon as the matter of long-range mobility became a little further away for Ukraine – for Ukraine – the Russian side almost automatically became less engaged in diplomacy," he stated.

Thus, in a short period, the president has shifted from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a Budapest summit with Putin and privately pressuring Zelensky to surrender the entire Donbas region – including territory Russia has been unable to conquer.

He has ultimately settled on advocating a truce along current battle lines – a proposal the Russian government has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail previously, the candidate promised that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has since abandoned that commitment, admitting that ending the war is proving harder than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his power – and the difficulty of establishing a peace plan when both parties desires, or is able to, cease hostilities.