‘You are a humanitarian also, sir’: the US feeds Putin with lies as Ukraine’s children take cover and die

Students and teachers in the hallway at an underground school in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Photograph: Pete Kiehart/The Guardian

They say the first casualty of war is truth. For the Trump administration, the road to peace with Russia now encompasses some extraordinary lies.

Steve Witkoff delivered one as he sat down with Vladimir Putin in his native St Petersburg on Wednesday, aiming to close the deal on Russia’s land grab in Ukraine with the White House’s strategy of maximum pressure on Kyiv and saccharine flattery of the Kremlin.