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

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

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

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump informed the press at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I will observe what happens."

• Trump says he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Letdown in Kyiv as President Zelensky departs White House empty-handed

The frequently changing meeting is just the latest development in Trump's attempts to mediate an conclusion to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a topic of increased attention for the American leader after he arranged a truce and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

While making remarks in Egypt last week to commemorate that truce deal, Trump turned to Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

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

However, the conditions that aligned to make a Middle East success possible for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for almost several years.

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the key to unlocking a agreement was Israel's move to strike Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a action that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but gave the president leverage to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president benefited from a history of siding with Israel since his initial presidency, including his choice to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the legality of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, more recently, his backing for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The US president, actually, is better regarded among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a situation that gave him special sway over the nation's head.

Add in Trump's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the area, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to force an deal.

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

The US leader has threatened to impose new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to provide the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could disrupt the global economy and further escalate the war.

Meanwhile, the US leader has publicly berated Zelensky, halting briefly information exchange with the country and suspending weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then back off in the face of concerned European allies who warn a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the whole area.

The president loves to tout his ability to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to move the hostilities any closer to a peaceful end.

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

In July, Putin agreed to a high-level meeting in the US state just as it appeared likely that Trump would approve on congressional sanctions package supported by Senate Republicans. That bill was afterwards put on hold.

Recently, as news emerged that the US administration was seriously contemplating shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the Russian leader called the US president who then touted the possible meeting in Budapest.

The following day, the president welcomed Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but departed empty-handed after a allegedly tense meeting.

The US leader insisted that he was not being played by the Russian president.

"You know, I've been played all my life by the best of them, and I came out successfully," he said.

However the Ukrainian leader later made note of the sequence of events.

"As soon as the matter of long-range mobility became a less accessible for us – for our nation – Russia almost automatically became less interested in negotiations," he said.

So, in a matter of days, Trump has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and privately pressuring Zelensky to surrender all of Donbas – even land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has finally decided on advocating a truce along present frontlines – a proposal Russia has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail previously, Trump vowed that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has subsequently discarded that pledge, saying that ending the hostilities is turning out harder than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his authority – and the difficulty of finding a framework for peace when both parties desires, or is able to, give up the fight.