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Accounts of an impending US-Russia presidential meeting have been overstated, apparently.

Only a few days after Donald Trump said he intended to meet Russian President Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been put off without a new date.

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

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

• Trump states he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky leaves Washington without results

The on-again, off-again summit is another development in Trump's attempts to broker an conclusion to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a subject of increased attention for the US president after he orchestrated a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza.

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

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

However, the circumstances 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 ongoing for almost four years.

Reduced Influence

According to the lead negotiator, the crucial element to achieving a agreement was the Israeli government's move to strike representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a action that angered America's Arab allies but gave Trump bargaining power to compel Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a history of supporting Israel since his initial presidency, encompassing his decision to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change America's position on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his backing for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, in fact, is more popular among Israelis than Netanyahu – a situation that provided him with unique influence over the nation's head.

Combine Trump's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the area, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to force an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, the president has much less influence. Over the past nine months, he has swung between attempts to pressure Putin and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has warned to enact additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could harm the global economy and further escalate the war.

At the same time, the US leader has criticized openly Ukraine's president, halting briefly information exchange with the country and suspending arms shipments to the country - only to then back off in the face of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the whole area.

The president often boasts about his ability to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to advance the hostilities any nearer a resolution.

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

In July, Russia's leader consented to a high-level meeting in Alaska just as it seemed probable that the president would approve on legislative penalties backed by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards delayed.

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

The following day, the president welcomed Zelensky at the executive residence, but departed without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

The US leader insisted that he was not being manipulated by the Russian president.

"You know, I have been manipulated all my life by the best of them, and I came out really well," he remarked.

However the president of Ukraine subsequently commented on the timeline of developments.

"As soon as the matter of advanced weaponry became a little further away for us – for our nation – the Russian side almost automatically became less interested in diplomacy," he said.

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to organizing a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and confidentially pressuring Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – even land Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has ultimately decided on advocating a truce along current battle lines – something the Russian government has rejected.

On the campaign trail previously, the candidate vowed that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has since abandoned that commitment, saying that concluding the war is proving harder than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his power – and the challenge of finding a peace plan when both parties wants, or is able to, give up the fight.