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Accounts of an upcoming US-Russia leadership summit have been overstated, apparently.

Just days after President Trump said he planned to confer with Russia's leader Putin in the Hungarian capital - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

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

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump informed reporters at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I will observe what happens."

• Donald Trump states he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves White House without results

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest development in Trump's attempts to mediate an conclusion to hostilities in Ukraine – a topic of increased attention for the US president after he orchestrated a ceasefire and hostage release agreement in the Palestinian territory.

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

"It is essential to get Russia resolved," he said.

Nonetheless, the conditions that converged to make a Middle East success achievable for Witkoff and his team may be challenging to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for almost several years.

Reduced Influence

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 action that angered America's Arab allies but provided the president bargaining power to compel Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a history of supporting Israel since his initial presidency, including his decision to relocate the American embassy to the contested city, to alter America's position on the lawfulness of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, more recently, his support for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The US president, in fact, is more popular among Israelis than their prime minister – a position that gave him unique influence over the Israeli leader.

Combine the president's political and economic ties to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to secure an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, Trump has significantly reduced influence. In recent months, he has swung between attempts to strong-arm Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has warned to impose new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to supply Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could disrupt the global economy and intensify the conflict.

At the same time, the US leader has criticized openly Zelensky, temporarily cutting off information exchange with Ukraine and suspending arms shipments to the nation - then to back off in the wake of worried European partners who warn a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the whole area.

Trump often boasts about his skill to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to move the hostilities any nearer a peaceful end.

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

During the summer, Russia's leader consented to a high-level meeting in Alaska just as it seemed probable that Trump would sign off on congressional sanctions package backed by GOP senators. That legislation was subsequently delayed.

Recently, as reports spread that the US administration was considering seriously shipping long-range missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the president of Russia phoned the US president who then promoted the potential meeting in Budapest.

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

Trump maintained that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated all my life by the best of them, and I emerged successfully," he remarked.

However the Ukrainian leader later commented on the timeline of developments.

"Once the matter of long-range mobility became a less accessible for Ukraine – for our nation – Russia quickly became less interested in negotiations," he stated.

So, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from considering the idea of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to planning a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and privately urging Zelensky to cede all of Donbas – even land Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately decided on calling for a truce along present frontlines – something the Russian government has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail previously, Trump promised that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has since discarded that commitment, admitting that ending the war is proving more difficult than he expected.

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