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Accounts of an impending American-Russian presidential meeting have been overstated, apparently.

Just 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 preliminary get-together by the both countries' top diplomats has been called off, too.

"I prefer not to have a wasted meeting," Donald Trump informed reporters at the White House on a recent weekday. "I aim to avoid a waste of time, so I will observe what happens."

• Donald Trump states he did not want a 'unproductive session' after plan for Putin talks postponed
• Letdown in Kyiv as Zelensky departs White House empty-handed

The on-again, off-again summit is just the latest twist in the president's attempts to mediate an end to war in the Eastern European nation – a topic of renewed focus for the American leader after he orchestrated a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in the Palestinian territory.

While making remarks in Egypt last week to commemorate that ceasefire agreement, Trump addressed his lead diplomatic negotiator, with a fresh directive.

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

However, the circumstances that aligned to make a Gaza breakthrough achievable for the negotiation team may be challenging to replicate in a Ukraine war that has been raging for almost four years.

Less Leverage

According to the lead negotiator, the key to achieving a deal was the Israeli government's decision to attack Hamas negotiators in Qatar. It was a move that angered US partners in the Arab world but provided the president leverage to pressure Israel's leader Netanyahu into reaching an agreement.

The US president benefited from a history of siding with the Israeli state since his first term, encompassing his decision to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, to change America's position on the legality of Jewish communities in the West Bank and, in recent times, his backing for Israeli defense operations against Iran.

The US president, in fact, is more popular among Israelis than their prime minister – a position that provided him with special sway over the Israeli leader.

Add in the president's connections in politics and business to influential Arab nations in the region, and he had a abundant diplomatic muscle to secure an agreement.

In the Ukraine war, on the other hand, the president has much less influence. In recent months, he has swung between attempts to pressure the Russian president and then Zelensky, all with little seeming effect.

The US leader has threatened to enact additional penalties on Russia's oil and gas sales and to provide Ukraine with advanced missile systems. But he has also acknowledged that such actions could disrupt the world's financial stability and intensify the conflict.

At the same time, the president has criticized openly Ukraine's president, temporarily cutting off information exchange with the country and pausing arms shipments to the country - then to back off in the face of worried European partners who caution a Ukrainian collapse could disrupt the whole area.

The president loves to tout his skill to sit down and negotiate deals, but his personal discussions with both Putin and Zelensky haven't seemed to move the war any closer to a resolution.

The Russian president may actually be using Trump's desire for a deal – and faith in in-person deal-making - as a means of influencing him.

In July, Russia's leader consented to a high-level meeting in the US state at the time when it appeared likely that the president would approve on congressional sanctions package backed by Senate Republicans. That bill was subsequently delayed.

Last week, as news emerged that the US administration was considering seriously shipping long-range missiles and air defense systems to Kyiv, the president of Russia called Trump who then touted the potential summit in Hungary.

The following day, the president hosted Ukraine's leader 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 all my life by the best of them, and I came out successfully," he said.

However the president of Ukraine subsequently commented on the timeline of developments.

"As soon as the issue of long-range mobility became a less accessible for us – for our nation – Russia quickly became less engaged in negotiations," he said.

Thus, in a short period, Trump has shifted from considering the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine to organizing a Budapest summit with Putin and privately pressuring Zelensky to surrender all of Donbas – including territory Russia has been failed to capture.

He has finally settled on calling for a ceasefire along current battle lines – something Russia has rejected.

On the campaign trail last year, Trump vowed that he could resolve the Ukraine war in a very short time. He has subsequently discarded that pledge, saying that ending the hostilities is turning out more difficult than he anticipated.

It has been a rare acknowledgement of the constraints of his authority – and the difficulty of establishing a peace plan when both parties desires, or is able to, cease hostilities.