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.

White House deputy chief Stephen Miller says it was ‘not acceptable’ for India to continue to buy Russian oil.

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