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Accounts of an impending American-Russian leadership summit have been overstated, apparently.

Only a few days after Donald Trump announced he planned to confer with Russia's leader Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

A preliminary meeting by the two nations' leading diplomats has been called off, too.

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump told reporters at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a waste of time, so I will observe what transpires."

• Trump says he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Letdown in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves White House without results

The on-again, off-again summit is another development in the president's attempts to mediate an end to war in Ukraine – a subject of increased attention for the US president after he orchestrated a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in Gaza.

While making remarks in the North African country recently to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, the president addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

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

Nonetheless, the conditions that converged to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for nearing several years.

Reduced Influence

Per Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a deal was Israel's move to attack representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a action that angered US partners in the Arab world but provided the president leverage to pressure Israel's leader Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president benefited from a long record of siding with Israel dating back to his initial presidency, encompassing his decision to relocate the US embassy to the contested city, to change US policy on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, in recent times, his support for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, actually, is more popular among Israelis than Netanyahu – a position that provided him with unique influence over the Israeli leader.

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

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, Trump has much less influence. In recent months, he has vacillated between attempts to strong-arm the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has threatened to enact new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to supply Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that doing so could disrupt the world's financial stability and further escalate the war.

Meanwhile, the president has publicly berated Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing weapon deliveries to the country - then to back off in the wake of worried European partners who warn a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the whole area.

Trump often boasts about his ability to meet and hammer out agreements, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to advance the war any nearer a resolution.

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

During the summer, Putin consented to a summit in Alaska just as it appeared likely that the president would approve on legislative penalties supported by GOP senators. That legislation was afterwards put on hold.

Recently, as reports spread that the White House was considering seriously shipping long-range missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the Russian leader called the US president who then promoted the possible summit in Budapest.

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

Trump maintained that he was not being played by Putin.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated throughout my career by skilled operators, and I emerged really well," he said.

But the president of Ukraine later made note of the sequence of events.

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a little further away for us – for our nation – Russia quickly became less engaged in negotiations," he said.

So, in a matter of days, the president has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to Ukraine to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and confidentially urging Zelensky to surrender all of Donbas – including land Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has finally decided on calling for a ceasefire along current battle lines – a proposal the Russian government has refused to accept.

During his election campaign last year, the candidate promised that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has subsequently abandoned that pledge, admitting that concluding the hostilities is proving harder than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his authority – and the difficulty of finding a peace plan when neither side wants, or can afford to, give up the fight.