In the past seven days we also looked at Ukraine’s Starlink saga and France’s losing battle with its own citizens

Witkoff returns to Russia

US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in St. Petersburg on Wednesday to present a new set of peace proposals to Russian President Vladimir Putin. As was the case in every round of talks so far, Moscow found little to agree with in the terms put forward by Kiev and its European backers, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters afterwards.

Although the key issues of the conflict – territory and Ukraine’s neutrality – remain unresolved, Witkoff and Putin pressed ahead with striking their own deals.…