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Reports of an upcoming American-Russian presidential summit have been overstated, it seems.

Just days after Donald Trump announced he intended to confer with Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital - "within two weeks or so" - the summit has been put off without a new date.

A initial get-together by the both countries' top diplomats has been cancelled, too.

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump informed the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I will observe what transpires."

• Donald Trump states he did not want a 'unproductive session' after arrangement for Putin talks shelved
• Disappointment in Kyiv as President Zelensky leaves White House without results

The frequently changing summit is another twist in Trump's attempts to broker an end to war in the Eastern European nation – a topic of renewed focus for the US president after he arranged a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in the Palestinian territory.

During a speech in the North African country recently to commemorate that truce deal, Trump addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

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

However, the circumstances that aligned to make a Middle East success achievable for the negotiation team may be difficult to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been raging for nearing several years.

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the crucial element to unlocking a deal was Israel's move to attack representatives of Hamas in the Gulf state. It was a action that infuriated America's Arab allies but gave the president leverage to compel Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a long record of supporting Israel since his initial presidency, including his decision to relocate the US embassy to the contested city, to alter America's position on the legality of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, more recently, his support for Israel's military campaign against Iran.

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

Add in Trump's political and economic ties to key Arab players in the area, and he had a wealth of diplomatic muscle to force an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, by contrast, Trump has much less influence. Over the past nine months, he has swung between attempts to pressure Putin and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has threatened to impose additional penalties on Russian energy exports and to supply Ukraine with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could harm the global economy and intensify the war.

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

Trump loves to tout his skill to sit down and hammer out agreements, but his face-to-face meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders haven't seemed to move the hostilities any nearer a peaceful end.

The Russian president may actually be exploiting the US leader's wish for a settlement – and faith in direct negotiations - as a method of influencing him.

In July, Russia's leader agreed to a summit in Alaska just as it appeared likely that Trump would approve on legislative penalties supported by GOP senators. That bill was afterwards delayed.

Recently, as reports spread that the US administration was considering seriously sending long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the Russian leader called Trump who then promoted the possible summit in Hungary.

The next day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but departed without agreements after a reportedly tense meeting.

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

"You know, I've been played all my life by skilled operators, and I emerged successfully," he said.

However the president of Ukraine subsequently commented on the sequence of events.

"Once the issue of long-range mobility became a little further away for us – for Ukraine – the Russian side almost automatically became less interested in diplomacy," he stated.

So, in a matter of days, the president has bounced from entertaining the prospect of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to planning a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and confidentially pressuring Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – including land Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has ultimately settled on advocating a truce along current battle lines – something the Russian government has rejected.

During his election campaign last year, the candidate vowed that he could end the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of hours. He has since abandoned that pledge, admitting that ending the war is turning out more difficult than he expected.

It has been a uncommon admission of the constraints of his authority – and the challenge of establishing a framework for peace when neither side desires, or can afford to, give up the fight.