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Reports of an impending US-Russia presidential meeting have been overstated, it seems.

Only a few days after Donald Trump said he planned to meet Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the high-level talks has been suspended indefinitely.

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

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," Donald Trump informed the press at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I'll see what happens."

• Donald Trump says he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for Putin talks postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves Washington without results

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

During a speech in Egypt recently to celebrate that ceasefire agreement, the president addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

"We have to get the Russian situation done," he declared.

Nonetheless, the conditions that converged to make a Middle East success possible for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to replicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for almost four years.

Less Leverage

Per Witkoff, the crucial element to achieving a agreement was the Israeli government's decision to strike representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a move that angered America's Arab allies but gave Trump bargaining power to compel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a history of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his first term, including his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change America's position on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his support for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The US president, actually, is more popular among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a situation that provided him with special sway over the Israeli leader.

Add in the president's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the region, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to force an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, Trump has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between efforts to pressure Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could harm the world's financial stability and intensify the conflict.

Meanwhile, the US leader has publicly berated Zelensky, temporarily cutting off information exchange with Ukraine and suspending arms shipments to the nation - only to then retreat in the face of concerned European allies who warn a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the whole area.

Trump loves to tout his ability to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to advance the war any closer to a peaceful end.

The Russian president may actually be using Trump's desire for a settlement – and belief in direct negotiations - as a means of influencing him.

During the summer, Russia's leader consented to a high-level meeting in the US state just as it seemed probable that the president would approve on congressional sanctions package supported by GOP senators. That legislation was subsequently delayed.

Last week, as reports spread that the White House was considering seriously shipping long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the president of Russia called the US president who then promoted the possible meeting in Hungary.

The next day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the White House, but left without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

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

"As you are aware, I've been played all my life by skilled operators, and I emerged really well," he remarked.

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

"As soon as the issue of long-range mobility became a less accessible for us – for Ukraine – Russia almost automatically became less interested in diplomacy," he said.

Thus, in a short period, Trump has bounced from entertaining the prospect of providing weapons to the Eastern European country to planning a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and confidentially urging the Ukrainian president to cede the entire Donbas region – even territory Russian forces has been unable to conquer.

He has finally settled on calling for a ceasefire along present frontlines – something Russia has rejected.

During his election campaign previously, Trump vowed that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that pledge, saying that concluding the war is proving harder than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his power – and the challenge of establishing a peace plan when both parties desires, or is able to, cease hostilities.