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

Only a few days after President Trump said he planned to meet Russia's leader Putin in Budapest - "in approximately a fortnight" - the summit has been put off without a new date.

A initial get-together by the two nations' top diplomats has been called off, too.

"I prefer not to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump informed the press at the executive mansion on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a pointless effort, so I will observe what happens."

• Donald Trump states he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after plan for Putin talks postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as President Zelensky departs Washington without results

The frequently changing summit is just the latest twist in the president's efforts to broker an end to war in Ukraine – a subject of increased attention for the American leader after he orchestrated a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in the North African country recently to celebrate that truce deal, the president turned to his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

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

Nonetheless, the conditions 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 raging for almost four 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 US partners in the Arab world but provided Trump bargaining power to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into making a deal.

The US president gained from a history of siding with the Israeli state dating back to his first term, encompassing his choice to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to alter America's position on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, more recently, his backing for Israeli defense operations against the Islamic Republic.

The American leader, in fact, is more popular among Israelis than Netanyahu – a position that gave him special sway over the nation's head.

Combine the president's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the area, and he had a wealth of diplomatic muscle to secure an agreement.

In the Ukraine war, by contrast, Trump has much less leverage. Over the past nine months, he has vacillated between attempts to strong-arm Putin and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could disrupt the global economy and further escalate the conflict.

At the same time, the president has criticized openly Zelensky, halting briefly information exchange with the country and suspending arms shipments to the country - then to retreat in the face of concerned European allies who warn a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the entire region.

The president often boasts about his ability to meet and negotiate deals, but his personal discussions with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not appeared to advance the war any nearer a resolution.

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

During the summer, Putin agreed to a high-level meeting in Alaska at the time when it seemed probable that Trump would sign off on congressional sanctions package backed by GOP senators. That legislation was subsequently put on hold.

Last week, as news emerged that the White House was considering seriously shipping Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Kyiv, the Russian leader phoned Trump who then touted the possible summit in Budapest.

The following day, Trump hosted Ukraine's leader at the White House, but departed empty-handed after a allegedly strained discussion.

Trump insisted that he was not being manipulated by Putin.

"As you are aware, I've been played throughout my career by the best of them, and I came out really well," he said.

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

"Once the matter of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for our nation – Russia almost automatically became less engaged in negotiations," he said.

So, in a matter of days, Trump has shifted from considering the idea of sending missiles to Ukraine to planning a meeting in Hungary with Russia's leader and privately pressuring the Ukrainian president to cede all of Donbas – including land Russia has been failed to capture.

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

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

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his power – and the difficulty of finding a framework for peace when both parties desires, or is able to, cease hostilities.