Wednesday briefing: Is Zelenskyy playing political poker – or Russian roulette?

<p>In today’s newsletter: the Ukraine president’s call for Putin to meet him in person represents a huge gamble in the prospect of peace</p><p>Good morning.</p><p>Talks. Istanbul. Thursday. In the geopolitical equivalent of a playground challenge, the latest move in the back-and-forth brinkmanship between Russia and Ukraine has seen President Zelenskyy call Putin’s bluff.</p><p><em><strong>US politics</strong></em> | Donald Trump says he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/13/us-saudi-arabia-arms-deal-trump-meeting-syria">will lift sanctions on Syria</a> and meet with the country’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, during his tour of the gulf states. Sharaa’s pitch to woo the US offered access to Syrian oil, reconstruction contracts and to build a Trump Tower in Damascus.</p><p><em><strong>UK news</strong></em> | Peter Sullivan, who has spent 38 years in jail, has had his murder conviction quashed in what is thought to be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/may/13/peter-sullivan-jail-murder-conviction-quashed-diane-sindall">the longest-running miscarriage of justice</a> in British history. Sullivan was wrongly convicted in 1987 for the frenzied murder of a florist and part-time pub worker, Diane Sindall, 21, in Merseyside.</p><p><em><strong>Conservatives</strong></em> | An MP has been charged with sexual assault over alleged incidents at London’s Groucho Club in 2023, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/13/tory-mp-patrick-spencer-charged-with-two-counts-of-sexual-assault">the Crown Prosecution Service has said</a>. Patrick Spencer, the MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, was charged with two counts of sexual assault against two separate women, said the CPS.</p><p><em><strong>Assisted dying</strong></em> | At least<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/may/14/at-least-five-more-mps-have-decided-to-vote-against-uk-assisted-dying-bill?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other"> five MPs have decided to vote against the UK assisted dying bill, the Guardian understands</a>. It comes as the Scottish parliament<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/may/13/scottish-parliament-vote-assisted-dying-bill"> votes to consider a bill to allow assisted dying</a> for terminally ill people for the first time.</p><p><em><strong>UK news</strong></em> | A man has been arrested in connection with a series of suspected arson attacks on property linked to Keir Starmer, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/13/man-arrested-attacks-on-properties-linked-to-keir-starmer">Scotland Yard has said</a>. The 21-year-old was arrested in the early hours on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and remained in custody, the Metropolitan police said.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/14/wednesday-briefing-is-zelenskyy-playing-political-poker-or-russian-roulette">Continue reading...</a>