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

Only a few days after Donald Trump announced he intended to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

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

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," President Trump informed the press at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I'll see what happens."

• Donald Trump says he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for Putin talks postponed
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as Zelensky departs Washington empty-handed

The frequently changing summit is another twist in Trump's attempts to broker an end to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a subject of increased attention for the American leader after he orchestrated a truce and prisoner exchange agreement in Gaza.

During a speech in Egypt recently to celebrate that truce deal, the president turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

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

However, the conditions that converged to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for the negotiation team may be challenging to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for nearing several years.

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the key to unlocking a agreement was the Israeli government's move to attack representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a action that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave the president leverage to pressure Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a history of siding with Israel since his first term, encompassing his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the lawfulness of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, more recently, his backing for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The US president, in fact, is more popular among Israelis than Netanyahu – a position that provided him with special sway over the Israeli leader.

Combine the president's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to secure an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, the president has significantly reduced leverage. In recent months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure Putin and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has warned to impose 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 disrupt the global economy and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the US leader has criticized openly Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and suspending arms shipments to the nation - then to retreat in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the whole area.

The president loves to tout his ability to sit down and negotiate deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to advance the hostilities any nearer a resolution.

Putin may actually be exploiting the US leader's wish for a deal – and faith in direct negotiations - as a means of manipulating him.

During the summer, Putin consented to a high-level meeting in the US state at the time when it appeared likely that Trump would approve on legislative penalties backed by Senate Republicans. That bill was subsequently delayed.

Last week, as news emerged that the US administration was considering seriously sending Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the president of Russia called Trump who then touted the potential summit in Hungary.

The next day, the president hosted Ukraine's leader at the White House, but departed empty-handed after a allegedly tense meeting.

Trump maintained that he was not being manipulated by the Russian president.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated throughout my career by skilled operators, and I emerged successfully," he said.

But the Ukrainian leader subsequently made note of the timeline of developments.

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a little further away for Ukraine – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less engaged in diplomacy," he stated.

So, in a matter of days, the president has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to organizing a Budapest summit with Putin and confidentially pressuring Zelensky to cede all of Donbas – even land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has finally settled on advocating a truce along current battle lines – a proposal Russia has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail previously, the candidate vowed that he could end the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has subsequently abandoned that commitment, saying that ending the war is proving harder than he anticipated.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his power – and the difficulty of finding a framework for peace when neither side wants, or can afford to, give up the fight.