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Reports of an upcoming US-Russia presidential summit have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

Just days after Donald Trump said he intended to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

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

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump told the press at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I don't want a waste of time, so I will observe what transpires."

• Donald Trump states he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after plan for Putin talks postponed
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky departs White House without results

The frequently changing summit is another development in Trump's efforts to mediate an conclusion to war in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he orchestrated a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in Gaza.

While making remarks in the North African country recently to celebrate that truce deal, Trump addressed Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

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

Nonetheless, the circumstances that converged 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 almost four years.

Reduced Influence

According to Witkoff, the key to unlocking a deal was Israel's move to strike Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a move that infuriated US partners in the Arab world but provided the president bargaining power to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

Trump benefited from a long record of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his first term, including his choice to relocate the American embassy to the contested city, to change America's position on the legality of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, more recently, his support for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The US president, in fact, is more popular among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a position that gave him special sway over the nation's head.

Add in the president's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the region, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to force an deal.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, Trump has much less influence. In recent months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has warned to impose new sanctions on Russian energy exports and to supply the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also recognised that doing so could harm the global economy and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the US leader has criticized openly Ukraine's president, halting briefly information exchange with the country and pausing weapon deliveries to the nation - then to retreat in the face of concerned European allies who caution a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the whole area.

The president loves to tout his skill to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the war any closer to a peaceful end.

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

During the summer, Russia's leader consented to a summit in Alaska at the time when it appeared likely that the president would sign off on legislative penalties backed by Senate Republicans. That bill was subsequently put on hold.

Last week, as news emerged that the White House was seriously contemplating sending long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the president of Russia called Trump who then touted the potential summit in Hungary.

The following day, the president welcomed Ukraine's leader at the White House, but departed empty-handed after a reportedly strained discussion.

Trump insisted that he was not being manipulated by the Russian president.

"You know, I've been played all my life by skilled operators, and I emerged successfully," he said.

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

"As soon as the matter of long-range mobility became a less accessible for us – for Ukraine – the Russian side quickly became less interested in negotiations," he said.

So, in a short period, Trump has shifted from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to organizing a Budapest summit with Putin and confidentially urging the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – even land Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately settled on advocating a ceasefire along current battle lines – something the Russian government has rejected.

During his election campaign previously, the candidate vowed that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has since abandoned that commitment, admitting that concluding the war is proving more difficult than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the limits of his authority – and the difficulty of finding a framework for peace when neither side wants, or can afford to, cease hostilities.