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Accounts of an impending US-Russia leadership meeting have been overstated, it seems.

Only a few days after Donald Trump announced he planned to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

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

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," President Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I'll see what happens."

• Donald Trump states he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as Zelensky leaves Washington empty-handed

The frequently changing meeting is another development in Trump's attempts to mediate an end to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a subject of increased attention for the US president after he orchestrated a truce and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

During a speech in the North African country recently to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, the president addressed Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

"It is essential to get the Russian situation resolved," he said.

However, the conditions that aligned to make a Middle East success achievable for the negotiation team may be challenging to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for almost four years.

Less Leverage

Per Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was the Israeli government's move to strike Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a action that angered America's Arab allies but provided the president leverage to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a long record of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his initial presidency, encompassing his decision to relocate the American embassy to the contested city, to alter US policy on the legality of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his backing for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The US president, actually, 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 influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a wealth of diplomatic muscle to force an agreement.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, the president has much less leverage. Over the past nine months, he has swung between attempts to pressure Putin and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has warned to impose new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to provide the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could disrupt the global economy and intensify the conflict.

Meanwhile, the president has criticized openly Ukraine's president, halting briefly information exchange with the country and suspending weapon deliveries to the nation - then to back off in the wake of worried European partners who warn a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the entire region.

The president often boasts about his ability to meet and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to move the hostilities any closer to a resolution.

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

In July, Putin consented to a high-level meeting in Alaska just as it appeared likely that Trump would sign off on congressional sanctions package backed by Senate Republicans. That bill was afterwards delayed.

Recently, as news emerged that the US administration was seriously contemplating shipping long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the Russian leader phoned the US president who then promoted the potential summit in Budapest.

The next day, the president welcomed Zelensky at the White House, but departed empty-handed after a allegedly strained discussion.

The US leader maintained that he was not being played by Putin.

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

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

"As soon as the matter of long-range mobility became a less accessible for us – for Ukraine – Russia quickly became less interested in negotiations," he said.

Thus, in a matter of days, the president has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to Ukraine to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Putin and privately pressuring the Ukrainian president to cede all of Donbas – even territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has finally decided on advocating a ceasefire along current battle lines – a proposal the Russian government has refused to accept.

During his election campaign last year, Trump promised that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has subsequently abandoned that pledge, admitting that concluding the war is proving harder than he anticipated.

It has been a uncommon admission of the limits of his authority – and the challenge of finding a peace plan when neither side wants, or is able to, cease hostilities.