The memos presented by Ukraine and Russia at their direct talks in Istanbul on Monday make it absolutely clear that, absent a strong U.S. intervention based on a detailed U.S. peace plan, there will be no peace settlement in Ukraine.

Delegations from the warring sides met for barely an hour and agreed to exchange more prisoners of war - focusing on the youngest and most severely wounded - and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers.

The second recent round of direct discussions, in Istanbul, resulted in an agreement to trade more prisoners, but produced few steps toward ending the fighting.