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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 intended to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

A initial get-together by the two nations' leading diplomats has been called off, too.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump informed reporters at the White House on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I will observe what transpires."

• Trump states he did not want a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves Washington without results

The frequently changing meeting is just the latest development in Trump's attempts to broker an end to war in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the American leader after he orchestrated a truce and prisoner exchange agreement in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in the North African country last week to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, Trump turned to Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

"We have to get Russia done," he said.

Nonetheless, the circumstances that aligned to make a Middle East success achievable for the negotiation team may be challenging to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for nearing several years.

Reduced Influence

Per Witkoff, the key to achieving a deal was the Israeli government's decision to strike representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but provided Trump leverage to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a long record of siding with the Israeli state dating back to his first term, including his choice to relocate the US embassy to the contested city, to change US policy on the legality of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his backing for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The American leader, in fact, is better regarded among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a position that gave him unique influence over the Israeli leader.

Combine Trump's political and economic ties to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to force an agreement.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, Trump has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has swung between attempts to pressure the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has warned to impose additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to supply the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could disrupt the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the president has criticized openly Ukraine's president, halting briefly information exchange with the country and pausing arms shipments to the country - only to then retreat in the face of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the whole area.

The president loves to tout his ability to meet and negotiate agreements, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to advance the hostilities any nearer a resolution.

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

In July, Putin consented to a summit in the US state at the time when it appeared likely that the president would approve on congressional sanctions package supported by GOP senators. That legislation was afterwards put on hold.

Last week, as news emerged that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the president of Russia phoned Trump who then promoted the possible meeting in Budapest.

The following day, the president hosted Ukraine's leader at the White House, but departed empty-handed after a reportedly tense meeting.

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

"You know, I have been manipulated throughout my career by skilled operators, and I emerged really well," he remarked.

But the Ukrainian leader subsequently made note of the timeline of developments.

"As soon as the matter of long-range mobility became a little further away for us – for Ukraine – Russia almost automatically became less interested in negotiations," he said.

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has shifted from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a Budapest summit with Putin and confidentially pressuring Zelensky to surrender the entire Donbas region – even land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has finally decided on calling for a ceasefire along current battle lines – something Russia has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail last year, the candidate promised that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that commitment, admitting that concluding the war is turning out harder than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his power – and the difficulty of finding a peace plan when neither side wants, or can afford to, give up the fight.