The Daily Fuckup

President Donald Trump renewed his push for Ukraine to accept territorial concessions in a peace deal, arguing that Moscow has the upper hand and that Kyiv should “play ball,” according to an interview released Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not budge. In meetings in Italy on Tuesday, he again rejected the idea of ceding Ukrainian territory to Russia, a position he has held through months of U.S.-led diplomacy and widening pressure on Kyiv.

Pope Leo XIV also weighed in during his meeting with Zelenskyy at Castel Gandolfo. The Vatican said the talks focused on the war in Ukraine, and Leo repeated the need for dialogue and expressed hope that current diplomatic efforts would produce a just and lasting peace. In remarks tied to the war, he also said Europe has to be part of any Ukraine peace talks, since the conflict is being fought on European soil.

The result is a three-way deadlock that still has no easy exit. Trump is pushing for a bargain that includes land. Zelenskyy is refusing to sign away territory. And European leaders, backed by the pope’s comments, are insisting that any settlement affecting the continent cannot be written without them.