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

Only a few days after Donald Trump announced 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' top diplomats has been called off, too.

"I don't want to have a fruitless discussion," President Trump told reporters at the executive mansion on Tuesday afternoon. "I don't want a pointless effort, so I'll see what happens."

• Trump states he wished to avoid a 'unproductive session' after plan for negotiations with Putin postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as President Zelensky departs Washington without results

The frequently changing summit is another twist in Trump's attempts to broker an conclusion to hostilities in the Eastern European nation – a topic of increased attention for the American leader after he orchestrated a ceasefire and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

While making remarks in Egypt last week to commemorate that truce deal, the president addressed Steve Witkoff, with a new request.

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

However, the circumstances that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for Witkoff and his team may be difficult to duplicate in a conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for almost several years.

Reduced Influence

Per Witkoff, the key to achieving a deal was the Israeli government's move to strike representatives of Hamas in Qatar. It was a action that infuriated America's Arab allies but provided Trump bargaining power to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president gained from a long record of siding with the Israeli state since his first term, encompassing his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, to alter America's position on the legality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and, more recently, his support for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The US president, actually, is better regarded among Israelis than Netanyahu – a situation that provided him with special sway over the Israeli leader.

Combine Trump'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.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, Trump has significantly reduced leverage. Over the past nine months, he has swung between efforts to strong-arm the Russian president and then the Ukrainian leader, all with little seeming effect.

Trump has warned to impose additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to supply the Ukrainian forces with new long-range weapons. But he has also acknowledged that doing so could disrupt the world's financial stability and intensify the conflict.

Meanwhile, the US leader has criticized openly Zelensky, temporarily cutting off intelligence-sharing with the country and suspending arms shipments to the nation - only to then back off in the wake of concerned European allies who warn a Ukrainian collapse could destabilise the entire region.

Trump loves to tout his ability to meet and negotiate agreements, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to advance the war any nearer a peaceful end.

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

In July, Russia's leader consented to a high-level meeting in Alaska just as it appeared likely that Trump would approve on legislative penalties supported by Senate Republicans. That bill was afterwards delayed.

Recently, as news emerged that the US administration was considering seriously shipping long-range missiles and Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine, the Russian leader phoned Trump who then touted the possible summit in Budapest.

The following day, the president hosted Ukraine's leader at the executive residence, but departed without agreements after a allegedly strained discussion.

Trump maintained that he was not being manipulated by the Russian president.

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

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

"As soon as the issue of advanced weaponry became a less accessible for us – for our nation – Russia almost automatically became less interested in negotiations," he said.

Thus, in a matter of days, the president has shifted from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to planning a meeting in Hungary with Putin and privately urging the Ukrainian president to cede all of Donbas – including territory Russian forces has been failed to capture.

He has finally settled on advocating a truce along current battle lines – something the Russian government has refused to accept.

During his election campaign previously, the candidate promised that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a matter of hours. He has since discarded that commitment, admitting that concluding the war is turning out more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the limits of his power – and the difficulty of establishing a peace plan when neither side wants, or can afford to, cease hostilities.