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Reports of an impending American-Russian leadership meeting have been overstated, it seems.

Only a few days after President Trump announced he planned to meet Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital - "in approximately a fortnight" - the summit has been put off without a new date.

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

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," President Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I will observe what transpires."

• Donald Trump states he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after plan for Putin talks postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves Washington empty-handed

The frequently changing meeting is another twist in Trump's attempts to mediate an end to war in the Eastern European nation – a topic of renewed focus for the American leader after he arranged a truce and hostage release deal in Gaza.

While making remarks in Egypt recently to celebrate that truce deal, Trump addressed Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

"It is essential to get Russia resolved," he declared.

However, the conditions that aligned to make a Middle East success possible for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for nearing several years.

Less Leverage

Per the lead negotiator, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was Israel's move to strike Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a action that angered US partners in the Arab world but provided the president bargaining power to compel Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

Trump benefited from a history of siding with Israel since his first term, including his decision to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem, to alter US policy on the lawfulness of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, in recent times, his backing for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The US president, actually, is better regarded among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a position that gave him unique influence over the Israeli leader.

Combine Trump's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the area, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to secure an deal.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, Trump has much less leverage. In recent months, he has vacillated between attempts to pressure the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has warned to enact new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could harm the global economy and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the president has publicly berated Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and suspending weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then retreat in the face of concerned European allies who warn a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the whole area.

The president loves to tout his skill to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to advance the war any nearer a peaceful end.

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

During the summer, Putin agreed to a high-level meeting in Alaska just as it seemed probable that Trump would approve on congressional sanctions package backed by Senate Republicans. That legislation was subsequently put on hold.

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

The next day, Trump hosted Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but departed without agreements after a reportedly strained discussion.

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

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

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

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

So, in a matter of days, Trump has shifted from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a meeting in Hungary with Putin and confidentially pressuring the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – including territory Russia has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately settled on calling for a truce along current battle lines – something Russia has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail previously, the candidate vowed that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has since discarded that commitment, saying that concluding the hostilities is turning out more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his authority – and the difficulty of establishing a framework for peace when neither side desires, or can afford to, cease hostilities.