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

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

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

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," President Trump informed the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I'll see what happens."

• Trump states he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for Putin talks postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky departs Washington empty-handed

The on-again, off-again meeting is just the latest development in Trump's attempts to broker an end to war in the Eastern European nation – a subject of increased attention for the US president 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 truce deal, Trump turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

"It is essential to get Russia resolved," 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 Ukraine war that has been raging for nearing several years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the key to unlocking a deal was the Israeli government's move to attack representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a move that angered America's Arab allies but gave the president bargaining power to compel Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president gained from a long record of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his first term, including his choice to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, to alter America's position on the legality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, in recent times, his support for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, actually, is more popular among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a position that gave him special sway over the Israeli leader.

Combine Trump's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the area, and he had a wealth of diplomatic muscle to secure an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, Trump has much less influence. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to strong-arm the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has threatened to impose additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that doing so could harm the global economy and intensify the conflict.

Meanwhile, the president has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off information exchange with Ukraine and pausing arms shipments to the country - only to then retreat in the wake of worried European partners who caution a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the whole area.

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

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

In July, Putin agreed to a summit in the US state just as it appeared likely that the president would approve on congressional sanctions package supported by GOP senators. That legislation was subsequently put on hold.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the Russian leader phoned the US president who then promoted the potential summit in Budapest.

The following day, the president hosted Zelensky at the White House, but departed without agreements after a reportedly strained discussion.

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 emerged really well," he said.

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

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

Thus, in a short period, the president has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to organizing a Budapest summit with Putin and privately urging Zelensky to surrender the entire Donbas region – including territory Russia has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately decided on advocating a truce along present frontlines – something the Russian government has rejected.

During his election campaign previously, the candidate promised that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has since abandoned that commitment, saying that concluding the war is turning out more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his authority – and the challenge of finding a peace plan when both parties desires, or can afford to, cease hostilities.