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Accounts of an impending US-Russia leadership meeting have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

Just days after President Trump said he planned to confer with Russia's leader Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

A preliminary meeting by the two nations' top diplomats has been cancelled, 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 waste of time, so I will observe what transpires."

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

The frequently changing meeting is just the latest twist in the president's efforts to broker an end to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a topic of increased attention for the US president after he orchestrated a truce and hostage release deal in Gaza.

While making remarks in Egypt last week to celebrate that truce deal, Trump turned to Steve Witkoff, with a fresh directive.

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

Nonetheless, the circumstances that converged to make a Middle East success achievable for Witkoff and his team may be challenging to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for almost four years.

Reduced Influence

Per Witkoff, the key to achieving a deal was the Israeli government's decision to attack Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a move that angered America's Arab allies but provided the president leverage to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

Trump benefited from a long record of supporting Israel since his initial presidency, encompassing his choice to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change America's position on the legality of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, in recent times, his support for Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

The American leader, actually, is more popular among Israelis than their prime minister – a position that provided him with special sway over the nation's head.

Combine Trump's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the region, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to secure an deal.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, Trump has significantly reduced influence. Over the past nine months, he has swung between efforts to pressure Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

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

At the same time, the US leader has publicly berated Zelensky, temporarily cutting off information exchange with the country and pausing weapon deliveries to the nation - then to retreat in the face of worried European partners who caution a defeat of Ukraine could destabilise the whole area.

Trump loves to tout his ability to sit down and negotiate deals, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to advance the war any closer to a resolution.

The Russian president may actually 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 summit in Alaska just as it seemed probable that the president would approve on congressional sanctions package backed by GOP senators. That legislation was subsequently delayed.

Recently, as reports spread that the White House was considering seriously shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the president of Russia called Trump who then promoted the potential summit in Hungary.

The next day, the president welcomed Zelensky at the White House, but left without agreements after a allegedly tense meeting.

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

"You know, I've been played throughout my career by skilled operators, and I came out really well," he remarked.

However the Ukrainian leader later commented on the timeline of developments.

"Once the issue of long-range mobility became a little further away for us – for our nation – Russia quickly became less interested in negotiations," he said.

So, in a matter of days, the president has bounced from considering the idea of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a meeting in Hungary with Putin and privately urging the Ukrainian president to surrender all of Donbas – even land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has finally decided on advocating a truce along current battle lines – a proposal Russia has rejected.

On the campaign trail last year, the candidate promised that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that pledge, admitting that concluding the war is turning out more difficult than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his authority – and the difficulty of establishing a framework for peace when neither side wants, or can afford to, give up the fight.