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Reports of an upcoming American-Russian presidential meeting have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

Just days after President Trump said he intended to confer with Russian President Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

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

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," President Trump told the press at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I will observe what happens."

• Donald Trump states he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after plan for Putin talks shelved
• Disappointment in Kyiv as President Zelensky departs Washington empty-handed

The on-again, off-again meeting is just the latest development in the president's attempts to broker an end to war in the Eastern European nation – a subject of renewed focus for the American leader after he arranged a truce and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

During a speech in Egypt recently to celebrate that truce deal, Trump turned to Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

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

However, the circumstances that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for the negotiation team may be difficult to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for almost several years.

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the key to unlocking a agreement was the Israeli government's move to strike representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but provided Trump leverage to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president benefited from a history of siding with Israel since his first term, including his decision to move the US embassy to the contested city, to change America's position on the legality of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his backing for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, actually, is more popular among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a situation that gave him special sway over the Israeli leader.

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

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

Trump has warned to enact additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to provide the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that doing so could disrupt the world's financial stability and intensify the conflict.

At the same time, the president has criticized openly Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and suspending weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then retreat in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the whole area.

Trump often boasts about his ability to sit down and hammer out deals, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to advance the war any nearer a peaceful end.

The Russian president may actually be using the US leader's wish for a deal – and belief in direct negotiations - as a method of manipulating him.

During the summer, Putin consented to a summit in the US state at the time when it seemed probable that the president would approve on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That bill was subsequently delayed.

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

The following day, the president hosted Zelensky at the White House, but departed without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

Trump maintained that he was not being played by Putin.

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated throughout my career by the best of them, and I came out really well," he remarked.

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

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a little further away for Ukraine – for our nation – Russia almost automatically became less engaged in diplomacy," he stated.

Thus, in a short period, Trump has bounced from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a meeting in Hungary with Putin and confidentially urging the Ukrainian president to surrender the entire Donbas region – even land Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately decided on calling for a ceasefire along current battle lines – something Russia has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail previously, the candidate promised that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has subsequently abandoned that commitment, admitting that concluding the war is turning out more difficult than he expected.

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