No dice so far All bets off after week of geopolitical poker games

His week began with four European leaders standing defiantly in Kyiv with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, issuing an ultimatum to Vladimir Putin: sign a ceasefire, or, together with Donald Trump, we will force you to do so, with sanctions and other tough measures.

- Shaun Walker

There followed a series of offers, counter-offers, ultimatums and deflections, in a dizzying week of high-stakes diplomacy that often resembled geopolitical poker.

Halfway through the week, the Guardian spent an hour with Zelenskyy, with three other European journalists, in his office in Kyiv. He had just made the surprise announcement that he would travel to Turkey personally for talks, and challenged Putin to join him. It was a dramatic raising of the stakes, and we asked if he felt a bit like he was playing poker. He said: "With several people at once."

The week started well for Zelenskyy, with Keir Starmer, France's Emmanuel Macron, the new German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and Poland's Donald Tusk all in Kyiv. The five men huddled on a sofa as Macron called Trump, who had just woken up. Trump, the Guardian understands, was pleased the five had met but did not offer any firm commitments to sign up to sanctions if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire.