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Reports of an upcoming US-Russia presidential summit have been overstated, it seems.

Just days after President Trump announced he planned to meet Russian President Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

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 told reporters at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a waste of time, so I'll see what transpires."

• Donald Trump states he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after plan for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Letdown in Kyiv as President Zelensky departs White House empty-handed

The frequently changing summit is another twist in Trump's efforts to mediate an conclusion to war in the Eastern European nation – a topic of renewed focus for the American leader after he arranged a ceasefire and hostage release agreement in the Palestinian territory.

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

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

However, the conditions 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.

Less Leverage

Per Witkoff, the crucial element to achieving a agreement was Israel's move to strike representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a move that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but provided the president leverage to pressure Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

Trump gained from a long record of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his initial presidency, including his choice to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the legality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, more recently, his backing for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The US president, in fact, is better regarded among Israelis than Netanyahu – a position that gave him unique influence over the Israeli leader.

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

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, the president has much less influence. In recent months, he has swung between efforts to strong-arm the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has threatened to enact additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to supply the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could harm the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the US leader has criticized openly Ukraine's president, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and pausing weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then back off in the face of worried European partners who warn a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the entire region.

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

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

During the summer, Putin consented to a summit in the US state at the time when it seemed probable that Trump would approve on legislative penalties supported by Senate Republicans. That bill was subsequently delayed.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was considering seriously sending long-range missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the president of Russia called the US president who then promoted the possible summit in Hungary.

The following day, the president hosted Zelensky at the White House, but departed without agreements after a reportedly tense meeting.

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

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated throughout my career by the best of them, and I came out successfully," he said.

But the Ukrainian leader subsequently commented on the sequence of events.

"Once the matter of long-range mobility became a less accessible for Ukraine – for Ukraine – Russia quickly became less engaged in diplomacy," he stated.

So, in a matter of days, the president has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and privately pressuring the Ukrainian president to surrender the entire Donbas region – including land Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately settled on advocating a truce along current battle lines – something Russia has rejected.

On the campaign trail last year, Trump promised that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has subsequently abandoned that pledge, saying that concluding the hostilities is turning out harder than he anticipated.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his power – and the challenge of establishing a framework for peace when neither side wants, or can afford to, cease hostilities.