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Reports of an impending US-Russia presidential meeting have been overstated, it seems.

Just days after President Trump said he planned to confer with Russia's leader Putin in the Hungarian capital - "in approximately a fortnight" - the summit has been put off without a new date.

A initial get-together by the both countries' top diplomats has been called off, too.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," President Trump told the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I'll see what transpires."

• Trump says he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves Washington without results

The on-again, off-again summit is another twist in the president's attempts to mediate an conclusion to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a subject of renewed focus for the US president after he arranged a truce and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

During a speech in Egypt last week to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, the president addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

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

However, the conditions that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for the negotiation team may be difficult to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for nearing four years.

Less Leverage

Per Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a agreement was the Israeli government's decision to attack Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a move that infuriated America's Arab allies but provided Trump leverage to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

Trump benefited from a long record of siding with the Israeli state since his first term, including his choice to relocate the US embassy to the contested city, to change US policy on the legality of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, more recently, his support for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, actually, is better regarded among Israelis than their prime minister – a situation that provided him with unique influence over the Israeli leader.

Combine the president's political and economic ties to influential Arab nations in the area, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to force an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, Trump has much less leverage. In recent months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has threatened to impose additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could disrupt the world's financial stability and further escalate the war.

At the same time, the president has publicly berated Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and suspending weapon deliveries to the country - then to back off in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the entire region.

The president 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 actually be using Trump's desire for a settlement – and faith in direct negotiations - as a method of influencing him.

In July, Russia's leader consented to a summit in the US state just as it appeared likely that Trump would approve on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That bill was afterwards delayed.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was considering seriously shipping long-range 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 next day, the president welcomed Ukraine's leader at the White House, but departed empty-handed after a allegedly strained discussion.

Trump maintained that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated all my life by the best of them, and I came out successfully," he remarked.

However the Ukrainian leader later commented on the timeline of developments.

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a little further away for us – for our nation – Russia quickly became less interested in negotiations," he said.

Thus, in a short period, 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 the Ukrainian president to surrender the entire Donbas region – including land Russian forces has been failed to capture.

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

On the campaign trail last year, Trump vowed that he could end the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has since abandoned that pledge, admitting that ending the war is turning out harder than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his authority – and the difficulty of establishing a peace plan when neither side wants, or can afford to, give up the fight.