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Reports of an upcoming American-Russian presidential meeting have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

Only a few days after President Trump announced he planned to meet Russian President Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the summit has been put off without a new date.

A initial meeting by the both countries' leading diplomats has been called off, too.

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump informed the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I will observe what happens."

• Donald Trump says he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for Putin talks postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves White House empty-handed

The frequently changing summit is another twist in Trump's efforts to mediate an end to war in Ukraine – a topic of increased attention for the American leader after he orchestrated a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in Egypt recently to celebrate that truce deal, the president turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

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

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

Reduced Influence

Per Witkoff, the key to unlocking a deal was Israel's decision to strike representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a move that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but gave the president bargaining power to compel Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president benefited from a history of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his initial presidency, including his decision to relocate the American embassy to the contested city, to alter US policy on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, more recently, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The American leader, in fact, is more popular among Israelis than their prime minister – a situation that gave him unique influence over the nation's head.

Add in the president's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the area, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to force an agreement.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, Trump has much less leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between attempts to strong-arm Putin and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has threatened to impose new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to supply the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could harm the world's financial stability and further escalate the conflict.

At the same time, the US leader has publicly berated Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and suspending arms shipments to the nation - only to then back off in the face of worried European partners who warn a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the whole area.

Trump often boasts about his skill to meet and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to advance the hostilities any closer to a peaceful end.

Putin may actually be using the US leader's wish for a settlement – and faith in in-person deal-making - as a method of manipulating him.

During the summer, Putin agreed to a high-level meeting in the US state just as it seemed probable that Trump would approve on congressional sanctions package backed by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards put on hold.

Last week, as news emerged that the US administration was seriously contemplating shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the president of Russia called Trump who then touted the potential summit in Budapest.

The next day, Trump welcomed Zelensky at the White House, but left empty-handed after a reportedly tense meeting.

Trump insisted 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 successfully," he said.

However the Ukrainian leader subsequently made note of the sequence of events.

"As soon as the issue of long-range mobility became a little further away for Ukraine – for our nation – Russia almost automatically became less engaged in diplomacy," he said.

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has shifted from considering the idea of sending missiles to Ukraine to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Putin and confidentially urging the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – even land Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately decided on advocating a truce along present frontlines – a proposal Russia has refused to accept.

During his election campaign previously, Trump vowed that he could end the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has subsequently abandoned that pledge, saying that ending the war is turning out more difficult than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his power – and the challenge of establishing a framework for peace when neither side desires, or is able to, give up the fight.