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Accounts of an impending US-Russia leadership summit have been overstated, apparently.

Just 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 both countries' leading diplomats has been cancelled, too.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump informed reporters at the White House on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I will observe what transpires."

• Trump says he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky departs Washington without results

The frequently changing summit is just the latest development in Trump's efforts to mediate an conclusion to war in the Eastern European nation – a subject of renewed focus for the US president after he arranged a truce and hostage release deal in the Palestinian territory.

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

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

Nonetheless, the circumstances that converged to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for the negotiation team may be challenging to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for nearing four years.

Less Leverage

According to the lead negotiator, the key to unlocking a agreement was Israel's move to attack Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a move that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but provided Trump bargaining power to compel Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a history of siding with Israel dating back to his first term, encompassing his choice to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, to alter US policy on the legality of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, in recent times, his backing for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

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

Add in the president's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the region, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to secure an agreement.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, the president has significantly reduced influence. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to strong-arm Putin and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has warned to impose additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to supply the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that such actions could disrupt the global economy and intensify the conflict.

At the same time, the president has publicly berated Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing arms shipments to the nation - then to back off in the face of worried European partners who caution a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the whole area.

The president often boasts about his skill to sit down and hammer out deals, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the war any closer to a peaceful end.

The Russian president 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 consented to a high-level meeting in the US state at the time when it appeared likely that the president would sign off on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That bill was afterwards put on hold.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was seriously contemplating sending long-range missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the president of Russia phoned the US president who then touted the potential summit in Budapest.

The next day, the president hosted Zelensky at the executive residence, but left without agreements after a reportedly tense meeting.

The US leader insisted that he was not being manipulated 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 president of Ukraine later commented on the sequence of events.

"Once the issue of advanced weaponry became a little further away for us – for Ukraine – the Russian side almost automatically became less engaged in diplomacy," he stated.

Thus, in a short period, the president has bounced from considering the idea of sending missiles to Ukraine to planning a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and confidentially urging Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – even land Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has ultimately settled on advocating a ceasefire along present frontlines – something Russia has rejected.

During his election campaign previously, Trump promised that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has since discarded that commitment, saying that concluding the hostilities is proving harder than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his power – and the challenge of establishing a framework for peace when neither side desires, or can afford to, cease hostilities.