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Accounts of an impending American-Russian presidential summit have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

Just days after President Trump said he planned to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital - "in approximately a fortnight" - the summit has been put off without a new date.

A preliminary get-together by the both countries' top diplomats has been cancelled, too.

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I will observe what happens."

• Trump says he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after plan for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky leaves Washington without results

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest development in the president's efforts to mediate an conclusion to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a topic of renewed focus for the American leader after he orchestrated a truce and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

During a speech in Egypt last week to commemorate that truce deal, the president addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

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

However, the conditions that converged to make a Middle East success achievable for Witkoff and his team may be challenging to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for nearing several years.

Less Leverage

According to Witkoff, the key to unlocking a agreement was the Israeli government's move to attack representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a move that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave the president leverage to compel Israel's leader Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president benefited from a history of supporting Israel dating back to his first term, including his decision to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem, to change America's position on the lawfulness of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, more recently, his support for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The American leader, in fact, is more popular among Israelis than their prime minister – a position that provided him with special sway over the Israeli leader.

Add in Trump's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the region, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to force an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, Trump has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has swung between efforts to strong-arm Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has warned to enact new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to provide the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that such actions could harm the global economy and intensify the conflict.

At the same time, the US leader has criticized openly Zelensky, halting briefly information exchange with the country and suspending arms shipments to the country - then to retreat in the face of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the whole area.

The president loves to tout his ability to sit down and hammer out deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the hostilities any nearer a resolution.

The Russian president may in fact be using the US leader's wish for a deal – and belief in in-person deal-making - as a means of manipulating him.

In July, Russia's leader agreed to a summit in Alaska just as it appeared likely that the president would sign off on legislative penalties supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was subsequently put on hold.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was considering seriously shipping long-range missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the Russian leader called the US president who then touted the potential meeting in Hungary.

The following day, the president hosted Ukraine's leader at the White House, but departed empty-handed after a allegedly strained discussion.

Trump maintained that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

"As you are aware, I've been played all my life by skilled operators, and I emerged successfully," he remarked.

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

"Once the matter of long-range mobility became a less accessible for us – for our nation – Russia almost automatically became less engaged in negotiations," he said.

Thus, in a short period, Trump has shifted from considering the idea of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Putin and privately urging Zelensky to surrender all of Donbas – including land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has finally settled on calling for a truce along current battle lines – a proposal Russia has rejected.

On the campaign trail previously, Trump vowed that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has subsequently discarded that pledge, admitting that ending the hostilities is turning out harder than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his authority – and the challenge of finding a framework for peace when both parties desires, or is able to, give up the fight.