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

Just days after President Trump announced he intended to meet Russia's leader Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been suspended indefinitely.

A preliminary meeting by the both countries' leading diplomats has been called off, too.

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump told reporters at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I'll see what transpires."

• Trump states he wished to avoid a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin shelved
• Letdown in Kyiv as Zelensky departs Washington empty-handed

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest development in the president's attempts to broker an end to war in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the American leader after he orchestrated a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in Egypt last week to celebrate that truce deal, Trump turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

"It is essential to get the Russian situation resolved," he declared.

Nonetheless, the conditions that converged to make a Middle East success achievable for the negotiation team may be challenging to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for nearing several years.

Less Leverage

Per the lead negotiator, the crucial element to achieving a agreement was Israel's move to attack Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a move that angered US partners in the Arab world but provided Trump leverage to compel Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president gained from a history of supporting the Israeli state since his first term, encompassing his decision to move the American embassy to the contested city, to change America's position on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The US president, actually, is more popular among the Israeli public than their prime minister – a position that gave him unique influence 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 wealth of diplomatic muscle to force an deal.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, 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 little seeming effect.

Trump has threatened to impose additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to supply Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also recognised that doing so could harm the world's financial stability and further escalate the war.

Meanwhile, the US leader has publicly berated Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and suspending weapon deliveries to the nation - only to then retreat in the wake of worried European partners who caution a defeat of Ukraine could disrupt the whole area.

The president often boasts about his ability to sit down and negotiate agreements, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to move the war any closer to a resolution.

The Russian president may in fact be using the US leader's wish for a deal – and faith in in-person deal-making - as a method of influencing him.

In July, Putin consented to a summit in the US state just as it seemed probable that Trump would approve on congressional sanctions package backed by Senate Republicans. That bill was afterwards delayed.

Last week, as news emerged that the White House was considering seriously shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the Russian leader called the US president who then promoted the potential summit in Budapest.

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

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

"As you are aware, I've been played all my life by the best of them, and I emerged really well," he said.

However the Ukrainian leader subsequently commented on the sequence of events.

"As soon as the issue of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for Ukraine – for our nation – the Russian side almost automatically became less engaged in negotiations," he said.

So, in a matter of days, Trump has shifted from considering the idea of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to organizing a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and privately pressuring the Ukrainian president to surrender the entire Donbas region – even land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has finally settled on advocating a truce along current battle lines – a proposal Russia has refused to accept.

On the campaign trail previously, Trump promised that he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has subsequently discarded that pledge, admitting that concluding the hostilities is turning out harder than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his authority – and the challenge of finding a peace plan when neither side desires, or can afford to, cease hostilities.