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Reports of an impending US-Russia leadership meeting have been overstated, it seems.

Only a few days after Donald Trump said he planned to meet Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

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

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump informed the press at the White House on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I'll see what transpires."

• Donald Trump says he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after plan for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky departs Washington empty-handed

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest development in the president's efforts to broker an end to war in the Eastern European nation – a subject of renewed focus for the American leader after he arranged a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in Gaza.

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

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

However, the circumstances that converged to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for the negotiation team may be challenging to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for almost four years.

Less Leverage

Per Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a deal was Israel's decision to attack Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a move that infuriated America's Arab allies but provided the president bargaining power to pressure Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a history of supporting the Israeli state since his first term, including his decision to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, more recently, his backing for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The US president, in fact, is better regarded among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a position that gave him special sway over the nation's head.

Combine Trump's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the area, and he had a wealth of diplomatic muscle to force an deal.

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

Trump 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 doing so could harm the global economy and intensify the conflict.

Meanwhile, the president has publicly berated Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and suspending weapon deliveries to the country - then to retreat in the face of worried European partners who warn a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the whole area.

Trump loves to tout 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 peaceful end.

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

During the summer, Putin agreed to a high-level meeting in Alaska at the time when it seemed probable that the president would approve on congressional sanctions package backed by GOP senators. That bill was subsequently put on hold.

Recently, as news emerged that the White House was considering seriously shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the Russian leader phoned Trump who then promoted the possible meeting in Hungary.

The next day, the president hosted Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but departed without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

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

"As you are aware, I've been played throughout my career by skilled operators, and I came out successfully," he remarked.

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

"As soon as the issue of long-range mobility became a little further away for us – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less engaged in negotiations," he said.

Thus, in a matter of days, the president has shifted from considering the idea of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Putin and confidentially pressuring Zelensky to surrender all of Donbas – even land Russia has been unable to conquer.

He has ultimately decided on advocating a truce along current battle lines – something Russia has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail last year, Trump promised that he could end the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has since abandoned that pledge, admitting that concluding the war is turning out more difficult than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his authority – and the difficulty of finding a framework for peace when both parties desires, or can afford to, cease hostilities.