Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week likened the ongoing rounds of high-stakes diplomacy around the Ukraine-Russia war to playing a poker game against several people at once. Caught in a nightmarish game of bluff, the Ukrainian president could hardly have reached for a better analogy (as well as providing kind inspiration for illustrator Pete Reynolds’ striking Guardian Weekly cover art this week).
Before entering politics, Zelenskyy was a TV sitcom actor who – absurd as it even feels to recall now – played the character of a teacher who was accidentally elected president. Amid the offers, counter-offers, ultimatums and deflections, Zelenskyy’s unwavering ability to play the straight man under pressure from all sides has been vital to keeping alive his country’s hopes of a halfway-acceptable peace deal.
But, as Shaun Walker, Pjotr Sauer and Peter Beaumont outline, a hectic week of geopolitical manoeuvring does not seem to have brought peace in Ukraine any nearer, largely due to Russia’s unwillingness to meaningfully engage. A phone call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump merely allowed the leaders to reaffirm their strange fondness for one another without making any tangible progress on talks.
And even if the winds of justice do one day turn against Putin, commentator Simon Tisdall outlines why a discredited international legal system means he is unlikely to ever face punishment for his crimes in court.
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Five essential reads in this week’s edition
Spotlight | Gaza’s fight for survival amid new offensive and hunger
Ceasefire rumours are of little interest, say the bereaved who face starvation after one of Beit Lahiya’s ‘hardest nights’. Jason Burke and Malak A Tantesh in Gaza report
Science | Inverse vaccines offer hope against autoimmune disease
Scientists hope a potential breakthrough treatment, which suppresses a particular part of the immune system rather than amplifying it, could be available within f ive years, writes David Kohn
Feature | Should the convictions of Lucy Letby be overturned?
When the British nurse was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others, a 1980s research paper was key to the prosecution. But the author of the paper believes there has been a miscarriage of justice – and so too do other doctors. David Conn investigates
Opinion | Keir Starmer must regain his political nerve
Labour has good ideas and years left to change Britain, argues John Harris. Why is it acting as if its time is almost up?
Culture | Inside the British Museum’s mesmerising look at Indian religions
A show full of deities, snakes and shrines puts three ancient faiths in the spotlight. David Shariatmadari seeks out its inspiration in the bustling metropolis of Mumbai
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What else we’ve been reading
• Heart Lamp, a short-story collection centring the lives of Indian women, by Banu Mushtaq won the 2025 International Booker prize, but all the shortlisted books here are going on my reading list. Intriguing and very different in style from much English-language fiction and, as John Self points out, mostly coming in at under 200 pages so not heavy in a commuter-reader’s rucksack. Isobel Montgomery, deputy editor
• My local football club Crystal Palace ended a 120-year wait to win a major trophy by beating Manchester City in last weekend’s FA Cup final. Palace may not be one of London’s glamour teams but the club has a deep-rooted connection to the diverse community in the capital’s southern suburbs, as this poignant piece by lifelong Eagles fan and Guardian football writer Ed Aarons explains. Graham Snowdon, editor
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Other highlights from the Guardian website
• Audio | What does the Nationals’ split from the Coalition mean for Australian politics?
• Video | It’s Complicated: How ‘forever chemicals’ have seeped into almost everything
• Gallery | Nightclubbing Ibiza-style, 1998-2003
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