Donald Trump says he thinks Volodymyr Zelensky is ready to give up Crimea to secure peace for the rest of Ukraine. Speaking to reporters a day after meeting with the Ukrainian president at the pope’s funeral, Trump expressed a “newfound sympathy” for his counterpart in Kyiv, saying Zelensky was in a “tough situation” and “wants to do something good for his country”. Sadiq Khan has backed London’s bid to host the 2040 Olympics, as part of a wider strategy aimed at raising hundreds of millions of pounds for the British economy by making the city the “sporting capital of the world”. According to a report published today by the Mayor of London’s office, six events last year – including the Champions League final and American football and baseball games – generated £230m for the capital. The heat is on in “blowtorch UK” this week, says the Daily Star, with temperatures likely to break the April record of 29.4C – set in London in 1949 – and make parts of the country hotter than Morocco. “Torchio!”

It’s time for Ukraine to accept reality

One of the most pernicious narratives on Ukraine, says Matthew Syed in The Sunday Times, is that Kyiv is on the verge of betrayal “because of Trump and Trump alone”. In reality, European hypocrisy has “stalked this conflict from day one”. We’ve never properly enforced sanctions on Moscow. In fact, Russia had one of the world’s fastest growing economies last year in part thanks to its vast sales of “laundered” oil; in 2023, an estimated 35 million barrels of the stuff found its way into the EU. And despite the UK’s much-vaunted export ban on weaponry to Russia, British companies are still bulk-selling arms and drone parts to former Soviet countries, for onward transport to Moscow. As for the bigger picture, it’s always worth remembering that the GDP of the EU and UK combined is “11 times the size of Russia’s”. European leaders always talk about their “resolve” and “solidarity” and “sacrifice”. It’s “delusional nonsense”.

Trump’s latest peace plan – which would see the de facto recognition of Russian-occupied territories, no Nato membership for Ukraine, and the lifting of sanctions on Moscow – clearly isn’t fair to Kyiv, says Wolfgang Münchau in UnHerd. But the “sorry truth” is that it’s a deal the Ukrainians, and the Europeans, should accept. Peace negotiations always reflect the current military situation, which is why the Ukrainians cannot expect to reclaim Crimea or any other Russia-occupied territory. And a deal would enable Europe to wean itself off its military dependence on the US “without having to fight a hot proxy war at the same time”. No, it’s by no means perfect, and yes, almost every European wishes things were different. But of all the possible bad outcomes from this conflict, Trump’s deal is “the least worst”.