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

Just days after President Trump announced he intended to confer with Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been put off without a new date.

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

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump told reporters at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I don't want a waste of time, so I'll see what transpires."

• Trump says he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for Putin talks postponed
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as Zelensky departs Washington empty-handed

The frequently changing meeting is another development in Trump's attempts to mediate 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 deal in Gaza.

During a speech in the North African country last week to commemorate that truce deal, Trump turned to Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

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

Nonetheless, the conditions that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for nearing several years.

Reduced Influence

Per Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was Israel's move to strike Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a action that angered America's Arab allies but gave Trump bargaining power to compel Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president gained from a history of siding with the Israeli state since his first term, including his choice to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the legality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, more recently, his backing for Israeli defense operations 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.

Add in the president's political and economic ties to influential Arab nations in the area, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to force an deal.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, Trump has much less influence. In recent months, he has vacillated between attempts to strong-arm Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has warned to impose new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could disrupt the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

At the same time, the US leader has publicly berated Ukraine's president, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and suspending weapon deliveries to the country - then to retreat in the wake of worried European partners who warn a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the entire region.

Trump often boasts about his skill to sit down and negotiate deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the hostilities any nearer a peaceful end.

Putin may actually be exploiting the US leader's wish for a deal – and belief in in-person deal-making - as a means of influencing him.

In July, Putin agreed to a summit in the US state just as it appeared likely that the president would approve on legislative penalties backed by Senate Republicans. That bill was afterwards delayed.

Recently, as news emerged that the White House was considering seriously sending Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the president of Russia called the US president who then touted the potential meeting in Budapest.

The next day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the White House, but left without agreements 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 the best of them, and I emerged really well," he said.

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

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

Thus, in a matter of days, the president has bounced from considering the idea of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to planning a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and privately pressuring the Ukrainian president to cede the entire Donbas region – even territory Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

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

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

It has been a uncommon admission of the limits of his power – and the challenge of establishing a peace plan when neither side wants, or is able to, cease hostilities.