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

Just days after President Trump said he intended to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

A initial meeting by the two nations' top diplomats has been called off, as well.

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump told reporters at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I'll see what happens."

• Donald Trump says he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves Washington without results

The frequently changing meeting is another development in the president's attempts to broker an end to war in the Eastern European nation – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a truce and hostage release agreement in the Palestinian territory.

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

"It is essential to get the Russian situation done," he said.

Nonetheless, the circumstances that converged to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for the negotiation team may be challenging to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for nearing several years.

Less Leverage

According to the lead negotiator, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was the Israeli government's move to attack representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that angered America's Arab allies but provided Trump bargaining power to pressure Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump gained from a history of siding with Israel dating back to his initial presidency, including his decision to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem, to alter US policy on the legality of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, more recently, 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 situation that gave him special sway over the Israeli leader.

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

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, the president has significantly reduced leverage. In recent months, he has swung between efforts to pressure Putin and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

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

At the same time, the US leader has criticized openly Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and pausing arms shipments to the country - then to retreat in the face of concerned European allies who warn a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the entire region.

The president loves to tout his skill to sit down and negotiate agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to move the war any nearer a resolution.

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

In July, Putin agreed to a summit in the US state at the time when it appeared likely that the president would sign off on legislative penalties backed by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards delayed.

Last week, as reports spread that the US administration was seriously contemplating sending Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the president of Russia phoned Trump who then promoted the potential meeting in Budapest.

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

The US leader insisted that he was not being played by Putin.

"As you are aware, I've been played throughout my career by the best of them, and I emerged successfully," he remarked.

But the Ukrainian leader subsequently made note of the sequence of events.

"As soon as the matter of long-range mobility became a little further away for Ukraine – for our nation – Russia almost automatically became less interested in diplomacy," he stated.

So, in a matter of days, Trump has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and confidentially pressuring 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 – something the Russian government has rejected.

On the campaign trail previously, Trump vowed that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has subsequently discarded that pledge, admitting that concluding the hostilities is proving more difficult than he anticipated.

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