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Reports of an upcoming US-Russia leadership meeting have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

Only a few days after Donald Trump announced he intended to meet Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

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

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump informed reporters at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I'll see what transpires."

• Donald Trump states he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after plan for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky leaves White House without results

The frequently changing meeting is just the latest development in Trump's efforts to broker an conclusion to war in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he arranged a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in Gaza.

During a speech in Egypt last week to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, the president turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

"It is essential to get Russia resolved," he declared.

Nonetheless, the conditions that converged to make a Middle East success achievable for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for almost four years.

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the key to achieving a agreement was Israel's decision to strike representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a move that infuriated America's Arab allies but gave the president bargaining power to pressure Israel's leader Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump gained from a history of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his initial presidency, including his decision to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem, to change America's position on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The US president, in fact, is more popular among Israelis than Netanyahu – a position that gave him special sway over the nation's head.

Combine the president's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to secure an deal.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, the president has significantly reduced leverage. In recent months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has warned to enact additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that doing so could disrupt the world's financial stability and further escalate the conflict.

Meanwhile, the president has criticized openly Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and suspending arms shipments to the nation - then to retreat in the face of worried European partners who warn a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the entire region.

The president often boasts about his skill to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the war any closer to a resolution.

The Russian president may in fact be using Trump's desire for a deal – and belief in direct negotiations - as a means of manipulating him.

During the summer, Russia's leader consented to a high-level meeting in the US state just as it appeared likely that the president would sign off on legislative penalties supported by GOP senators. That legislation was subsequently put on hold.

Recently, as reports spread that the White House was considering seriously sending Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the president of Russia phoned Trump who then touted the possible summit in Budapest.

The next day, the president hosted Ukraine's leader at the White House, but left without agreements after a reportedly strained discussion.

Trump maintained that he was not being played by the Russian president.

"As you are aware, I've been played throughout my career by skilled operators, and I came out really well," he remarked.

However the president of Ukraine subsequently made note of the sequence of events.

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less interested in diplomacy," he stated.

Thus, in a short period, Trump has shifted from considering the idea of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a meeting in Hungary with Putin and confidentially pressuring Zelensky to cede 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.

On the campaign trail previously, Trump promised that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has since abandoned that pledge, admitting that concluding the war is proving harder than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his authority – and the difficulty of finding a peace plan when neither side wants, or can afford to, cease hostilities.