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Accounts of an upcoming US-Russia presidential meeting have been overstated, it seems.

Just days after Donald Trump said he planned to confer with Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

A preliminary get-together by the two nations' top diplomats has been called off, as well.

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump informed the press at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I'll see what happens."

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

The frequently changing meeting is just the latest development in the president's attempts to mediate an conclusion to hostilities in Ukraine – a subject of increased attention for the US president after he orchestrated a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in the North African country last week to commemorate that truce deal, Trump turned to Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

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

Nonetheless, the circumstances that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for the negotiation team may be difficult to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for almost four years.

Reduced Influence

According to the lead negotiator, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was the Israeli government's decision to attack Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a move that angered America's Arab allies but provided the president bargaining power to compel Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a history of siding with Israel since his first term, including his decision to move the US embassy to the contested city, to change US policy on the legality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, in recent times, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The American leader, actually, is more popular among Israelis 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 region, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to secure an deal.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, the president has much less leverage. In recent months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has threatened to impose additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to provide Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that such actions could harm the global economy and further escalate the conflict.

At the same time, the US leader has publicly berated Ukraine's president, halting briefly information exchange with Ukraine and pausing arms shipments to the nation - then to retreat in the face of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the entire region.

Trump often boasts about his ability to meet and hammer out deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the hostilities any closer to a peaceful end.

The Russian president may in fact be exploiting Trump's desire for a settlement – and faith in direct negotiations - as a method of manipulating 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 backed by GOP senators. That legislation was afterwards delayed.

Last week, as news emerged that the US administration was seriously contemplating shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the president of Russia phoned Trump who then touted the possible meeting in Hungary.

The next day, the president welcomed Zelensky at the White House, but left without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

Trump insisted that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

"You know, I have been manipulated throughout my career by skilled operators, and I emerged successfully," he remarked.

But the president of Ukraine subsequently commented on the timeline of developments.

"Once the issue of advanced weaponry became a little further away for Ukraine – for Ukraine – the Russian side quickly became less interested in negotiations," he stated.

So, in a short period, the president has shifted from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to planning a meeting in Hungary with Putin and confidentially urging Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – even territory Russia has been failed to capture.

He has finally settled on advocating a truce along present frontlines – a proposal Russia has rejected.

During his election campaign previously, the candidate promised that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has since abandoned that commitment, saying that concluding the war 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 wants, or is able to, cease hostilities.