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Accounts of an impending American-Russian presidential meeting have been overstated, apparently.

Just days after President Trump announced he planned to meet Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been put off without a new date.

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

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I'll see what happens."

• Trump states he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after plan for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky departs Washington without results

The frequently changing summit is another twist in the president's attempts to broker an end to war in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he arranged a truce and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

While making remarks in the North African country recently to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, Trump addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

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

Nonetheless, the conditions that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough possible for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for almost four years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the key to achieving a agreement was Israel's move to strike representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a move that angered US partners in the Arab world but provided Trump bargaining power to compel Israel's leader Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a history of supporting Israel since his first term, encompassing his choice to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to alter America's position on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, more recently, his backing for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The American leader, in fact, is better regarded among the Israeli public 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 wealth of negotiating strength to secure an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, the president has significantly reduced influence. Over the past nine months, he has swung between attempts to strong-arm Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with minimal visible progress.

Trump has warned to enact additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that doing so could disrupt the global economy and further escalate the war.

At the same time, the president has publicly berated Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and suspending arms shipments to the country - only to then retreat in the wake of concerned European allies who caution a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the whole area.

The president often boasts about his skill to meet and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to move the war any nearer a peaceful end.

Putin may in fact be exploiting the US leader's wish for a deal – and belief in direct negotiations - as a method of influencing him.

During the summer, Putin agreed to a high-level meeting in the US state just as it appeared likely that Trump would sign off on legislative penalties supported by GOP senators. That legislation was afterwards put on hold.

Recently, as news emerged that the US administration was considering seriously sending long-range missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the Russian leader called Trump who then touted the possible meeting in Hungary.

The next day, Trump welcomed Zelensky at the White House, but departed empty-handed after a reportedly strained discussion.

Trump insisted 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 really well," he remarked.

However the president of Ukraine later commented on the timeline of developments.

"As soon as the matter of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for Ukraine – for our nation – the Russian side quickly became less interested in diplomacy," he stated.

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

He has finally settled on calling for a truce along present frontlines – a proposal Russia has rejected.

During his election campaign last year, Trump promised that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has subsequently discarded that commitment, admitting that concluding the war is turning out more difficult than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his power – and the difficulty of finding a peace plan when neither side wants, or can afford to, give up the fight.