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Reports of an upcoming American-Russian leadership meeting have been overstated, apparently.

Just days after President Trump announced he planned to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

A preliminary get-together by the both countries' top diplomats has been cancelled, as well.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," President Trump informed reporters at the White House on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I will observe what happens."

• Donald Trump says he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for Putin talks postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves White House empty-handed

The frequently changing summit is just the latest twist in Trump's attempts to mediate an end to war in Ukraine – a topic of increased attention for the American leader after he arranged a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in the North African country recently to celebrate that truce deal, the president addressed Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

"It is essential to get Russia done," he declared.

Nonetheless, the circumstances that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to duplicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for almost several years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the crucial element to unlocking a deal was Israel's move to attack Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a move 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 gained from a long record of siding with Israel since his first term, including his decision to move the US embassy to the contested city, to change US policy on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his backing for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

The American leader, actually, is better regarded among Israelis than Netanyahu – a position that provided him with unique influence over the nation's head.

Combine Trump's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to force an agreement.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, Trump has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between attempts to pressure the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has warned to impose new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could disrupt the global economy and further escalate the war.

Meanwhile, the president has criticized openly Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing weapon deliveries to the nation - then to back off in the face of worried European partners who warn a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the whole area.

The president often boasts about his skill to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to move the war any closer to a resolution.

The Russian president may actually be using Trump's desire for a settlement – and faith in in-person deal-making - as a method of manipulating him.

During the summer, Russia's leader consented to a summit in Alaska at the time when it appeared likely that Trump would approve on legislative penalties supported by GOP senators. That legislation was afterwards put on hold.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was considering seriously sending Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the president of Russia called Trump who then promoted the possible meeting in Budapest.

The next day, Trump welcomed Zelensky at the executive residence, but departed without agreements after a reportedly tense meeting.

Trump insisted that he was not being played by Putin.

"You know, I have been manipulated throughout my career by skilled operators, and I emerged successfully," he remarked.

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

"As soon as the matter of long-range mobility became a little further away for us – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less engaged in diplomacy," he stated.

So, in a short period, the president has bounced from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to organizing a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and confidentially urging Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – even territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.

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

On the campaign trail last year, the candidate vowed that he could end the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that commitment, saying that ending the hostilities is turning out more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a uncommon admission of the limits of his power – and the challenge of establishing a peace plan when neither side wants, or is able to, give up the fight.