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Accounts of an impending US-Russia leadership summit have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

Only a few days after Donald Trump said he planned 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 cancelled, too.

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," President Trump informed the press at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I don't want a waste of time, so I'll see what happens."

• Donald Trump states he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky departs White House without results

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest development in the president's efforts to mediate an end to war in the Eastern European nation – a topic of increased attention for the US president after he orchestrated a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in Egypt last week to celebrate that truce deal, Trump turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

"We have to get Russia resolved," he said.

Nonetheless, the circumstances that aligned to make a Middle East success achievable for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for almost four years.

Less Leverage

According to the lead negotiator, the crucial element to achieving a deal was the Israeli government's decision to attack representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a move that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave Trump leverage to compel Israel's leader Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump benefited from a history of supporting the Israeli state since his initial presidency, including his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change America's position on the lawfulness of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, in recent times, his backing for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, in fact, is more popular among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a situation that provided him with special sway over the nation's head.

Add in Trump's connections in politics and business to key Arab players in the region, and he had a wealth of diplomatic muscle to force an agreement.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, Trump has much less influence. In recent months, he has swung between efforts to strong-arm the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has warned to impose new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to supply the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could harm the global economy and further escalate the war.

At the same time, the US leader has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and pausing arms shipments to the nation - only to then back off in the face of concerned European allies who caution a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the entire region.

The president 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 war any closer to a peaceful end.

Putin may actually be exploiting Trump's desire 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 at the time when it seemed probable that the president would sign off on legislative penalties backed by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards delayed.

Recently, as reports spread that the US administration was seriously contemplating sending Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the president of Russia called the US president who then touted the potential summit in Budapest.

The following day, the president welcomed Ukraine's leader at the White House, but left without agreements after a allegedly tense meeting.

The US leader maintained 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 really well," he remarked.

But the president of Ukraine later commented on the timeline of developments.

"Once the matter of long-range mobility became a less accessible for us – for our nation – Russia almost automatically became less interested in diplomacy," he said.

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from considering the idea of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and privately urging the Ukrainian president to surrender the entire Donbas region – including land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has finally settled on advocating a truce along present frontlines – 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 pledge, saying that concluding the war is turning out more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his power – and the challenge of establishing a framework for peace when both parties desires, or can afford to, give up the fight.