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Reports of an upcoming US-Russia leadership meeting have been greatly exaggerated, apparently.

Only a few days after President Trump said he planned to confer with Russian President Putin in Budapest - "within two weeks or so" - the high-level talks has been put off without a new date.

A preliminary get-together by the two nations' leading diplomats has been cancelled, too.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump told the press at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a waste of time, so I'll see what happens."

• Trump says he did not want a 'wasted meeting' after arrangement for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Disappointment in Kyiv as Zelensky leaves Washington empty-handed

The frequently changing summit is just the latest twist in the president's efforts to broker an end to war in Ukraine – a topic of renewed focus for the American leader after he orchestrated a truce and hostage release agreement in the Palestinian territory.

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

"We have to get Russia done," he said.

Nonetheless, the circumstances that converged to make a Middle East success achievable for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been ongoing for almost several years.

Reduced Influence

Per the lead negotiator, the key to unlocking a agreement was Israel's move to attack Hamas negotiators in the Gulf state. It was a action that angered America's Arab allies but provided the president bargaining power to pressure Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president gained from a long record of siding with Israel since his initial presidency, including his choice to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change US policy on the lawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, in recent times, his support for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The American leader, in fact, is more popular among the Israeli public than Netanyahu – a situation that provided him with special sway over the nation's head.

Add in the president's connections in politics and business to key Arab players in the region, and he had a abundant negotiating strength to secure an deal.

Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, on the other hand, Trump has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has swung between attempts to strong-arm the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with minimal visible progress.

The US leader has warned to impose new sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply the Ukrainian forces with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could harm the world's financial stability and further escalate the war.

At the same time, the president has publicly berated Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and pausing arms shipments to the nation - then to retreat in the face of worried European partners who warn a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the entire region.

The president loves to tout his skill to sit down and negotiate deals, but his face-to-face meetings with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the hostilities any closer to a resolution.

Putin may actually be using the US leader's wish for a settlement – and belief in direct negotiations - as a method of manipulating him.

In July, Russia's leader consented to a summit in the US state just as it seemed probable that the president would approve on congressional sanctions package backed by GOP senators. That bill was subsequently delayed.

Recently, as news emerged that the White House was considering seriously sending long-range missiles and air defense systems to Ukraine, the Russian leader called the US president who then promoted the potential summit in Budapest.

The following day, Trump welcomed Ukraine's leader at the White House, but left without agreements after a allegedly tense meeting.

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

"You know, I've been played all my life by the best of them, and I emerged successfully," he remarked.

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

"As soon as the matter of advanced weaponry became a little further away for us – for Ukraine – the Russian side quickly became less interested in diplomacy," he stated.

Thus, in a matter of days, the president has bounced from considering the idea of sending missiles to the Eastern European country to organizing a Budapest summit with Russia's leader and privately urging Zelensky to cede the entire Donbas region – even land Russia has been failed to capture.

He has finally decided on advocating a truce along present frontlines – something the Russian government has rejected.

During his election campaign last year, Trump vowed that he could end the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has since discarded that pledge, saying that ending the war is proving harder than he expected.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his authority – and the difficulty of establishing a framework for peace when neither side wants, or can afford to, give up the fight.