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

Just days after President Trump announced he intended to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

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

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," President Trump told the press at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I will observe what happens."

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

The on-again, off-again summit is another twist in Trump's efforts to broker an end to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he arranged a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in Egypt recently to commemorate that truce deal, the president addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

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

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 ongoing for almost four years.

Less Leverage

According to the lead negotiator, the key to achieving a agreement was the Israeli government's decision to strike representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a move that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but gave Trump leverage to pressure Israel's leader Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

Trump benefited from a long record of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his first term, encompassing his choice to relocate the American embassy to the contested city, to change America's position on the legality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, more recently, his backing for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

The American leader, 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 region, and he had a wealth of diplomatic muscle to force an agreement.

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

The US leader has warned to enact additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that such actions could harm the global economy and further escalate the conflict.

At the same time, the US leader has publicly berated Ukraine's president, halting briefly information exchange with the country and pausing arms shipments to the nation - only to then back off in the wake of worried European partners who caution a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the whole area.

Trump loves to tout his skill to sit down and hammer out deals, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to advance the war any closer to a peaceful end.

The Russian president may actually be exploiting Trump's desire for a settlement – and belief 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 seemed probable that the president would approve on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That legislation was subsequently put on hold.

Recently, as reports spread that the White House was seriously contemplating sending long-range missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the Russian leader phoned Trump who then promoted the potential meeting in Hungary.

The next day, the president welcomed Zelensky at the White House, but departed empty-handed after a allegedly tense meeting.

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

"As you are aware, I have been manipulated all my life by skilled operators, and I came out really well," he said.

But the president of Ukraine later made note of the sequence of events.

"Once the issue of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for Ukraine – Russia quickly became less engaged in diplomacy," he said.

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has shifted from considering the idea of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and privately urging Zelensky to surrender the entire Donbas region – even territory Russia has been unable to conquer.

He has ultimately decided on advocating a ceasefire along present frontlines – something Russia has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail last year, the candidate vowed that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has since abandoned that commitment, saying that concluding the war is proving more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a uncommon admission of the limits of his authority – and the difficulty of establishing a peace plan when neither side desires, or can afford to, cease hostilities.