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

Just days after Donald Trump said he intended to confer with Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

A preliminary get-together by the two nations' leading diplomats has been called off, too.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," President Trump told the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I'll see what transpires."

• Donald Trump says he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after plan for Putin talks postponed
• Disappointment in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky leaves Washington empty-handed

The frequently changing meeting is just the latest twist in Trump's attempts to mediate an end to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a topic of renewed focus for the American leader after he arranged a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in Egypt recently to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, Trump turned to Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

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

However, 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 ongoing for nearing four years.

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the crucial element to achieving a agreement was Israel's move to attack representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a action that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but provided Trump bargaining power to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president benefited from a history of supporting the Israeli state since his initial presidency, including his decision to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change America's position on the legality of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his backing for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, in fact, is better regarded among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a situation that gave him unique influence over the nation's head.

Add in the president's political and economic ties to influential Arab nations in the area, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to secure an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, the president has much less influence. Over the past nine months, he has swung between efforts to pressure Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has threatened to impose additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could disrupt the world's financial stability and further escalate the conflict.

At the same time, the president has publicly berated Ukraine's president, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing arms shipments to the country - then to back off in the wake of worried European partners who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the entire region.

The president loves to tout his skill 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.

Putin may in fact be using Trump's desire for a deal – and belief in direct negotiations - as a means of manipulating him.

In July, Putin consented to a summit in the US state at the time when it seemed probable that the president would sign off on legislative penalties backed by GOP senators. That bill was subsequently put on hold.

Last week, as reports spread that the US administration was seriously contemplating shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the Russian leader phoned Trump who then touted the potential meeting in Hungary.

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

The US leader maintained that he was not being manipulated by the Russian president.

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

But the Ukrainian leader later made note of the timeline of developments.

"As soon as the matter of long-range mobility became a little further away for us – for our nation – Russia almost automatically became less interested in diplomacy," he stated.

Thus, in a short period, the president has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to organizing a meeting in Hungary with Putin and privately urging the Ukrainian president to cede the entire Donbas region – even territory Russia has been unable to conquer.

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

During his election campaign previously, the candidate promised that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has since discarded that commitment, saying that ending the war 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 framework for peace when both parties desires, or can afford to, give up the fight.