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Reports of an impending US-Russia leadership summit have been overstated, it seems.

Only a few days after President Trump announced he planned to meet Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital - "in approximately a fortnight" - the summit has been put off without a new date.

A initial meeting by the two nations' leading diplomats has been cancelled, too.

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump told reporters at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I don't want a waste of time, so I will observe what transpires."

• Trump states he did not want a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for Putin talks postponed
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as Zelensky departs White House without results

The frequently changing summit is another development in Trump's efforts to mediate an conclusion to war in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a ceasefire and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

While making remarks in the North African country recently to celebrate 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 converged to make a Middle East success possible for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for almost four years.

Less Leverage

According to the lead negotiator, the key to unlocking a agreement was the Israeli government's decision to attack Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a move that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave the president bargaining power to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a history of siding with the Israeli state dating back to his initial presidency, including his choice to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his support for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, in fact, is more popular among Israelis than their prime minister – a position that gave him unique influence over the nation's head.

Combine the president's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the region, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to force an deal.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, the president has significantly reduced leverage. In recent months, he has vacillated between attempts to strong-arm Putin and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has warned to enact additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to provide the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that doing so could harm the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the US leader has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off information exchange with the country and pausing arms shipments to the country - only to then back off in the wake of concerned European allies who warn a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the whole area.

The president loves to tout his skill to meet and negotiate agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to move the hostilities any nearer a peaceful end.

The Russian president may in fact be exploiting the US leader's wish for a settlement – and faith in in-person deal-making - as a means of manipulating him.

In July, Russia's leader consented to a summit in the US state at the time when it appeared likely that the president would sign off on legislative penalties backed by Senate Republicans. That legislation was afterwards delayed.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was seriously contemplating shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the president of Russia phoned the US president who then promoted the possible summit in Hungary.

The next day, the president hosted Zelensky at the White House, but left empty-handed after a reportedly tense meeting.

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

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated throughout my career by skilled operators, and I came out really well," he said.

But the Ukrainian leader later commented on the sequence of events.

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for Ukraine – the Russian side almost automatically became less interested in diplomacy," he stated.

So, in a short period, the president has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and privately pressuring Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – even land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately settled on advocating a ceasefire along present frontlines – a proposal the Russian government has refused to accept.

During his election campaign previously, the candidate promised that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has since discarded that commitment, saying that concluding the hostilities is turning out harder than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the limits of his power – and the difficulty of finding a peace plan when both parties desires, or can afford to, give up the fight.