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

Just days after Donald Trump said he intended 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 preliminary get-together by the two nations' leading diplomats has been cancelled, too.

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," President Trump told the press at the White House on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I'll see what transpires."

• Trump says he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky departs Washington without results

The frequently changing meeting is just the latest twist in Trump's attempts to mediate an end to hostilities in Ukraine – a subject of renewed focus for the US president after he arranged a truce and hostage release deal in Gaza.

While making remarks in Egypt last week to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, the president addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

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

However, the circumstances that aligned to make a Middle East success possible for the negotiation team may be difficult to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for nearing four years.

Less Leverage

Per Witkoff, the key to unlocking a deal was Israel's move to strike representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a action that infuriated America's Arab allies but provided Trump leverage to pressure Israel's leader Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president benefited from a long record of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his initial presidency, encompassing his choice to move the US embassy to the contested city, to change America's position on the legality of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, more recently, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The US president, actually, is better regarded among Israelis than Netanyahu – a position that provided him with unique influence over the Israeli leader.

Combine the president's political and economic ties to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to secure an deal.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, the president has much less leverage. In recent months, he has vacillated between efforts to strong-arm the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has warned to impose 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 disrupt the world's financial stability and intensify the conflict.

At the same time, the US leader 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 worried European partners who caution a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the whole area.

Trump loves to tout his skill to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to advance the war any closer to a peaceful end.

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

During the summer, Russia's leader consented to a high-level meeting in Alaska at the time when it seemed probable that Trump would sign off on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards put on hold.

Last week, as news emerged that the US administration was seriously contemplating sending long-range missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the president of Russia phoned the US president who then touted the potential meeting in Budapest.

The following day, the president welcomed Zelensky at the White House, but left without agreements after a reportedly tense meeting.

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

"As you are aware, I've been played all my life by the best of them, and I came out successfully," he said.

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

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

Thus, in a short period, Trump has shifted from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and privately urging the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – including territory Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has finally settled on advocating a truce along present frontlines – something Russia has rejected.

During his election campaign previously, the candidate vowed that he could end the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has subsequently discarded that pledge, saying that concluding the hostilities is proving more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his power – and the difficulty of finding a framework for peace when both parties wants, or can afford to, give up the fight.