Previous Trump promises, threats and cajoling have failed to yield results., and the stubborn diplomatic stalemate will be hard to clear away. Meanwhile, Ukraine is losing more territory on the front line, although there is no sign of a looming collapse of its defenses.

Kyiv and Moscow have held three rounds of talks in Istanbul this year that yielded exchanges of prisoners and bodies.

US President Donald Trump has proposed a way out of the conflict for Ukraine and Russia. The US is asking the countries to accept it, states Dorothy Shea, Acting US Permanent Representative to the UN.