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

Only a few days after Donald Trump announced he intended to confer with Russian President Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

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

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump informed the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a waste of time, so I will observe what transpires."

• Donald Trump states he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as President Zelensky leaves Washington empty-handed

The frequently changing meeting is just the latest development in Trump's attempts to mediate an end to war in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in the North African country recently to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, Trump addressed Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

"We have to get the Russian situation done," he declared.

Nonetheless, the circumstances that converged to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for the negotiation team may be challenging to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for almost several years.

Reduced Influence

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

The US president gained from a history of siding with Israel dating back to his initial presidency, encompassing his choice to relocate the US embassy to the contested city, to change US policy on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, in recent times, his support for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, actually, is better regarded among Israelis than Netanyahu – a position that gave him special sway over the Israeli leader.

Add in Trump's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the area, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to force an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, Trump has much less influence. In recent months, he has vacillated between attempts to pressure the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has warned to impose new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that such actions could disrupt the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

At the same time, the US leader has publicly berated Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and suspending weapon deliveries to the nation - then to back off in the wake of worried European partners who caution a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the whole area.

The president loves to tout his ability to sit down and negotiate deals, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to move the hostilities any nearer a peaceful end.

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

During the summer, Putin consented to a high-level meeting in Alaska at the time when it appeared likely that Trump would sign off on congressional sanctions package supported by GOP senators. That bill was afterwards delayed.

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

The following day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but left empty-handed after a allegedly strained discussion.

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

"You know, I've been played throughout my career by the best of them, and I came out successfully," he remarked.

However the president of Ukraine subsequently made note of the sequence of events.

"Once the issue of long-range mobility became a little further away for Ukraine – for our nation – Russia quickly became less engaged in diplomacy," he stated.

So, in a short period, the president has bounced from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to Ukraine to organizing a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and privately pressuring Zelensky to cede all of Donbas – including territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has finally settled on calling for a truce along present frontlines – something the Russian government has refused to accept.

During his election campaign last year, Trump promised that he could end the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that commitment, saying that concluding the hostilities is turning out more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his authority – and the difficulty of establishing a framework for peace when neither side desires, or can afford to, give up the fight.