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Accounts of an upcoming US-Russia leadership meeting have been overstated, it seems.

Only a few days after Donald Trump said he intended to confer with Russia's leader Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

A initial meeting by the two nations' top diplomats has been called off, as well.

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump told the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a waste of time, so I will observe what transpires."

• Donald Trump says he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky departs White House empty-handed

The frequently changing meeting is another twist in Trump's efforts to broker an conclusion to war 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 last week to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, Trump turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

"We have to get Russia done," he declared.

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

Reduced Influence

Per Witkoff, the key to achieving a deal was the Israeli government's move to attack Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a move that angered America's Arab allies but gave Trump leverage to compel Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president benefited from a history of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his initial presidency, including his decision to move the US embassy to the contested city, to alter America's position on the legality of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, in recent times, his support for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

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

Combine 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.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, the president has much less leverage. In recent months, he has vacillated 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 new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that doing so could harm the global economy and further escalate the war.

Meanwhile, the president has publicly berated Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off information exchange with Ukraine and suspending weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then back off in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the entire region.

Trump often boasts about his ability to meet and negotiate deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to advance the war any nearer a resolution.

The Russian president may in fact be exploiting Trump's desire for a deal – and belief in direct negotiations - as a method of influencing him.

In July, Putin agreed to a summit in the US state just as it seemed probable that Trump would sign off on legislative penalties backed by Senate Republicans. That bill was afterwards put on hold.

Recently, as reports spread that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the president of Russia called Trump who then touted the potential meeting in Hungary.

The next day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but left without agreements after a allegedly tense meeting.

Trump insisted that he was not being played by Putin.

"You know, I've been played throughout my career by the best of them, and I emerged 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 interested in negotiations," he said.

So, in a short period, the president has bounced from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and confidentially urging the Ukrainian president to surrender the entire Donbas region – including territory Russia has been failed to capture.

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

On the campaign trail previously, Trump vowed that he could end the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has since abandoned that commitment, saying that concluding the hostilities is turning out harder than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his power – and the difficulty of finding a peace plan when neither side desires, or is able to, cease hostilities.