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Accounts of an impending US-Russia presidential meeting have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

Only a few days after President Trump said he planned to confer with Russian President 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 cancelled, too.

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump told the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a waste of time, so I will observe what happens."

• Donald Trump says he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for Putin talks shelved
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky departs Washington without results

The on-again, off-again meeting is another twist in the president's attempts to mediate an conclusion to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a topic of renewed focus for the American leader after he arranged a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in Egypt last week to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, the president turned to Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

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

However, the circumstances that converged to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for the negotiation team may be difficult to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for almost four years.

Less Leverage

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

Trump gained from a history of siding with the Israeli state since his first term, encompassing his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to alter US policy on the legality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, in recent times, his backing for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The US president, in fact, is better regarded among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a situation that gave him unique influence over the nation's head.

Add in the president's connections in politics and business to key Arab players in the area, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to force an deal.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, the president has significantly reduced influence. Over the past nine months, he has swung between efforts to pressure the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has warned to enact additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to provide Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that doing so could harm the global economy and intensify the conflict.

At the same time, the president has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and suspending arms shipments to the nation - then to back off in the face of worried European partners who caution a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the whole area.

The president often boasts about his ability to meet and hammer out deals, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to advance the war any closer to a resolution.

Putin may actually be exploiting Trump's desire for a deal – and faith in direct negotiations - as a method of influencing him.

In July, Putin agreed to a high-level meeting in the US state just as it appeared likely that the president would sign off on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards delayed.

Recently, as reports spread that the US administration was seriously contemplating sending long-range missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the president of Russia phoned the US president who then promoted the possible meeting in Budapest.

The next day, Trump hosted Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but departed empty-handed after a allegedly tense meeting.

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

"You know, I've been played throughout my career by skilled operators, and I emerged successfully," he said.

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

"Once the matter of long-range mobility became a little further away for Ukraine – for our nation – Russia quickly became less engaged in negotiations," he said.

Thus, in a short period, the president has shifted from considering the idea of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and privately pressuring Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – even land Russia has been unable to conquer.

He has ultimately settled on advocating a ceasefire along current battle lines – a proposal Russia has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail last year, the candidate vowed that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has subsequently discarded that commitment, saying that concluding the hostilities is proving harder 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 wants, or can afford to, cease hostilities.