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Accounts of an impending US-Russia leadership summit have been overstated, it seems.

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

A initial meeting by the both countries' leading diplomats has been cancelled, too.

"I don't want to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump informed the press at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I'll see what transpires."

• Donald Trump states he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for Putin talks shelved
• Letdown in Ukraine's capital as President Zelensky departs Washington empty-handed

The frequently changing summit is another development in Trump's efforts to mediate an end to hostilities in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the American leader after he arranged a truce and hostage release deal in Gaza.

While making remarks in the North African country last week to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, the president turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a new request.

"It is essential to get the Russian situation done," 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 conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for almost several years.

Less Leverage

According to Witkoff, the crucial element to achieving a deal was the Israeli government's decision to strike Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a move that infuriated America's Arab allies but gave the president leverage to compel Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a history of supporting the Israeli state dating back to his first term, encompassing his choice to relocate the US embassy to the contested city, to change US policy on the lawfulness of Jewish communities in the occupied territories and, more recently, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

The US president, actually, is better regarded among Israelis than their prime minister – a situation that gave him unique influence over the nation's head.

Combine the president's connections in politics and business to key Arab players in the area, and he had a wealth of negotiating strength to force an agreement.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, the president has much less influence. In recent months, he has vacillated between attempts to pressure the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has threatened 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 such actions could harm the world's financial stability and intensify the war.

Meanwhile, the president has criticized openly Zelensky, halting briefly intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and suspending arms shipments to the nation - only to then back off in the face of worried European partners who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the whole area.

Trump loves to tout his ability to sit down and negotiate agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky have not appeared to move the hostilities any nearer a peaceful end.

Putin may actually be exploiting Trump's desire for a deal – and belief in direct negotiations - as a method of influencing him.

In July, Russia's leader agreed to a summit in the US state just as it seemed probable that Trump would approve on congressional sanctions package backed by GOP senators. That legislation was subsequently put on hold.

Recently, as reports spread that the US administration was considering seriously shipping long-range missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the president of Russia phoned Trump who then promoted the possible meeting in Hungary.

The following day, Trump welcomed Zelensky at the executive residence, but departed without agreements after a allegedly tense meeting.

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

"As you are aware, I've been played throughout my career by skilled operators, and I came out really well," he said.

But the president of Ukraine later made note of the sequence of events.

"As soon as the issue of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for our nation – Russia quickly became less engaged in diplomacy," he said.

Thus, in a matter of days, Trump has bounced from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to organizing a Budapest summit with Putin and privately urging the Ukrainian president to cede all of Donbas – including land Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately settled on calling for a ceasefire along current battle lines – something Russia has refused to accept.

During his election campaign last year, the candidate promised that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a very short time. He has since abandoned that commitment, saying that concluding the hostilities is proving 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.