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Reports of an impending American-Russian leadership meeting have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

Only a few days after Donald Trump said he intended 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 preliminary get-together by the two nations' top diplomats has been cancelled, as well.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump informed reporters at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I will observe what happens."

• Trump says he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for Putin talks postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves Washington without results

The on-again, off-again meeting is another twist in Trump's attempts to broker an end to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a topic of increased attention for the US president after he arranged a truce and hostage release deal in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in the North African country last week to celebrate that truce deal, the president addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

"It is essential to get the Russian situation done," he declared.

Nonetheless, the conditions that converged to make a Middle East success achievable for the negotiation team may be challenging to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for almost four years.

Less Leverage

According to the lead negotiator, the crucial element to achieving a agreement was Israel's move to strike representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a action that infuriated America's Arab allies but gave Trump bargaining power to compel Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a long record of supporting the Israeli state since his first term, including his decision to move the American embassy to the contested city, to change US policy on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, more recently, his backing for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

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

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

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, the president has much less leverage. Over the past nine months, he has swung between attempts to strong-arm Putin and then Zelensky, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader 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 recognised that doing so could harm the global economy and intensify the conflict.

At the same time, the president has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and suspending weapon deliveries to the country - then to retreat in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the entire region.

Trump loves to tout his ability to sit down and negotiate deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to move the hostilities any nearer a resolution.

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

In July, Russia's leader agreed to a high-level meeting in the US state just as it appeared likely that the president would sign off on congressional sanctions package supported by GOP senators. That legislation was subsequently delayed.

Recently, as reports spread that the White House was considering seriously sending Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the Russian leader phoned Trump who then touted the possible meeting in Hungary.

The next day, the president welcomed Zelensky at the executive residence, but left empty-handed after a allegedly strained discussion.

The US leader insisted that he was not being played by Putin.

"As you are aware, I've been played all my life by the best of them, and I came out really well," he said.

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

"Once the matter of long-range mobility became a less accessible for Ukraine – for Ukraine – the Russian side quickly became less engaged in negotiations," he said.

So, in a matter of days, Trump has shifted from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to organizing a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and confidentially pressuring the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – including land Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has finally decided on calling for a ceasefire along present frontlines – a proposal Russia has refused to accept.

During his election campaign previously, Trump promised that he could end the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that pledge, admitting that ending the hostilities is turning out harder than he anticipated.

It has been a uncommon admission of the limits of his power – and the challenge of establishing a framework for peace when both parties wants, or is able to, cease hostilities.