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Reports of an upcoming US-Russia presidential summit have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

Only a few days after President Trump announced he planned to meet Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

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

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump informed the press at the White House on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I will observe what transpires."

• Trump says he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after plan for Putin talks postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves Washington without results

The frequently changing meeting is another development in Trump's attempts to broker an end to hostilities in Ukraine – a topic of increased attention for the US president after he arranged a truce and prisoner exchange deal in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in the North African country last week to celebrate that truce deal, the president turned to Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

"We have to get the Russian situation resolved," he declared.

Nonetheless, the conditions that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for Witkoff and his team may be challenging to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for almost four years.

Reduced Influence

Per Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was Israel's move to attack representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a action that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave Trump bargaining power to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a history of siding with Israel dating back to his initial presidency, including his decision to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, more recently, his support for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

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

Combine Trump's connections in politics and business to key Arab players in the region, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to force an agreement.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, the president has significantly reduced influence. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between attempts to strong-arm the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has threatened to enact additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that doing so could disrupt the global economy and further escalate the war.

At the same time, the US leader has criticized openly Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and suspending weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then back off in the wake of concerned European allies who warn a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the entire region.

Trump often boasts about his ability to sit down and hammer out deals, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to move the hostilities any closer to a peaceful end.

The Russian president may actually be exploiting the US leader's wish for a settlement – and belief in direct negotiations - as a method of influencing him.

During the summer, Putin consented to a summit in the US state just as it appeared likely that the president would approve on legislative penalties backed by Senate Republicans. That bill was subsequently put on hold.

Recently, as news emerged that the US administration was considering seriously sending long-range missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the president of Russia called Trump who then touted the possible meeting in Budapest.

The next day, Trump welcomed Zelensky at the executive residence, but left without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

Trump insisted that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated throughout my career by skilled operators, and I emerged successfully," he said.

However the Ukrainian leader subsequently commented on the timeline of developments.

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a little further away for us – for Ukraine – the Russian side quickly became less engaged in diplomacy," he stated.

So, in a short period, the president has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and confidentially pressuring the Ukrainian president to surrender the entire Donbas region – including land Russian forces has been failed to capture.

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

During his election campaign last year, Trump vowed that he could end the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has subsequently abandoned that pledge, admitting that concluding the war is proving more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his power – and the difficulty of establishing a peace plan when both parties wants, or can afford to, give up the fight.