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Reports of an upcoming US-Russia leadership summit have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

Just days after President Trump said he planned to meet Russia's leader Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

A preliminary meeting by the both countries' top diplomats has been called off, as well.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump told reporters at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a waste of time, so I will observe what happens."

• Trump says he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky leaves Washington empty-handed

The frequently changing meeting is another development in Trump's efforts to mediate an end to war in Ukraine – a subject of renewed focus for the American leader after he arranged a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in Egypt last week to commemorate that truce deal, the president turned to Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

"We have to get the Russian situation resolved," he said.

However, the conditions that converged to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for the negotiation team may be challenging to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for almost four years.

Less Leverage

According to Witkoff, the crucial element to achieving a agreement was Israel's move to strike Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a move that angered US partners in the Arab world but gave Trump bargaining power to pressure Israel's leader Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a history of siding with the Israeli state since his initial presidency, encompassing his decision to relocate the American embassy to the contested city, to alter America's position on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, more recently, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The American leader, actually, is more popular among Israelis than their prime minister – a situation that gave him unique influence over the nation's head.

Add in Trump's political and economic ties to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to secure an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, Trump has significantly reduced influence. Over the past nine months, he has swung between attempts to pressure Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has threatened to enact new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to supply Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could disrupt the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the president has criticized openly Ukraine's president, halting briefly information exchange with Ukraine and pausing arms shipments to the country - then to back off in the face of concerned European allies who caution a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the whole area.

The president often boasts about his ability to sit down and negotiate deals, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to advance the war any closer to a peaceful end.

The Russian president may in fact be using the US leader's wish for a settlement – and faith in direct negotiations - as a method of influencing him.

In July, Putin consented to a summit in the US state at the time when it seemed probable that Trump would approve on legislative penalties backed by Senate Republicans. That bill was afterwards put on hold.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was considering seriously shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the Russian leader phoned Trump who then touted the potential meeting in Budapest.

The next day, the president hosted Zelensky at the White House, but left empty-handed after a allegedly strained discussion.

The US leader maintained that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

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

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

"As soon as the issue of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for Ukraine – the Russian side quickly became less engaged in negotiations," he said.

So, in a matter of days, the president has shifted from considering the idea of sending missiles to Ukraine to planning a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and privately pressuring Zelensky to surrender all of Donbas – even territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately settled on advocating a truce along current battle lines – a proposal Russia has rejected.

During his election campaign previously, the candidate promised that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has since discarded that pledge, admitting that concluding the hostilities is proving more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his authority – and the difficulty of finding a framework for peace when both parties desires, or can afford to, cease hostilities.