US president’s efforts under harsh spotlight as Rwanda-DRC deal and Thailand-Cambodia mediations waver

For the sake of anyone confused by Donald Trump’s apparently supernatural abilities as a global peacemaker – for which he was given the inaugural (and perhaps only) Fifa “peace prize” – current events have intervened to offer some clarification.

Trump has claimed a number of dubious diplomatic successes on the international peace front, among them a freshly signed deal between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, mediating in Thailand and Cambodia’s deadly border dispute, and the Gaza “ceasefire”.

US president recycles far-right tropes on European immigration and presses Zelenskyy to accept his peace plan

• New Trump doctrine identifies ‘weak’ Europe’s problem: not enough racism

Donald Trump has hinted he could walk away from supporting Ukraine as he doubled down on his administration’s recent criticism of Europe, describing it as “weak” and “decaying” and claiming it was “destroying itself” through immigration.

In a rambling and sometimes incoherent interview with Politico, a transcript of which was released on Tuesday, the US president struggled to name any other Ukrainian cities except for Kyiv, misrepresented elements of the trajectory of the conflict, and recycled far-right tropes about European immigration that echoed the “great replacement” conspiracy theory.

Hopes rise of a breakthrough in using £78bn of frozen Russian assets to bankroll Kyiv

European leaders rallied behind Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday night amid hopes they might finally achieve a breakthrough to allow Ukraine access to billions of pounds of frozen Russian assets.

Despite vociferous support for the Ukrainian president, who has come under heavy pressure from Donald Trump to cede territory in order to bring the war to a speedy end, there was still no agreement on the thorny question of turning immobilised assets into a loan for Kyiv.

Ukraine president’s UK visit comes amid heavy pressure from Washington for Kyiv to cede territory to Moscow

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met the leaders of the UK, France and Germany in London amid heavy pressure on Ukraine from the Trump administration to cede territory it holds to bring the war to an end quickly.

The talks on Monday follow several days of negotiations between US and Ukrainian officials, which ended on Saturday without an apparent breakthrough and were characterised by the Ukrainian president as “constructive, although not easy”.