Russian president Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed direct talks with Ukraine aimed at ending the war, an initiative welcomed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy who said Kyiv was willing to talk but Moscow must agree to a ceasefire.
Later Zelenskiy challenged Putin to meet in person for peace talks in Istanbul on Thursday and urged Russia to accept a 30-day truce, in a dramatic turn after a weekend of diplomatic flurry.
Zelenskiy’s comments came after Donald Trump pressed him to agree “immediately” to Putin’s offer of negotiations. Zelenskiy upped the stakes by suggesting the enemies meet “personally”.
“We await a full and lasting ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy,” the Ukrainian president said in a statement. “There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses.”
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Zelenskiy challenges Putin to meet in person for peace talks on Thursday
The two leaders have not communicated directly since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and there have been no publicly known talks between Moscow and Kyiv since March 2022, shortly after the war began.
Zelenskiy’s statement came shortly after Trump said in a statement on his Truth Social platform that Ukraine should “HAVE THE MEETING, NOW!!!”.
Putin sent thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, unleashing a war that has killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and triggered the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
With Russian forces grinding forward, the Kremlin chief has offered few, if any, concessions so far but has proposed talks with Ukraine in the Turkish city of Istanbul that he said would be held without preconditions and aimed at a durable peace.
“We are proposing that Kyiv resume direct negotiations without any preconditions,” Mr Putin said in a televised statement. “We offer the Kyiv authorities to resume negotiations already on Thursday, in Istanbul.”
Mr Zelenskiy said in a statement on social media website X it was “a positive sign that the Russians have finally begun to consider ending the war” but “the very first step in truly ending any war is a ceasefire”.
“We expect Russia to confirm a ceasefire – full, lasting, and reliable – starting tomorrow, May 12th, and Ukraine is ready to meet,” he said.
Reacting to Putin, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Gen Keith Kellogg, wrote on X: “An unconditional 30 day ceasefire first and, during it, move into comprehensive peace discussions. Not the other way around.”
Lithuania’s foreign minister, Kęstutis Budrys, said Russia was “stalling for time” and condemned continuing attacks on Ukraine, after the Ukrainian air force said Russia attacked Ukraine with drones on Saturday night. “Putin is playing his usual game – wielding terror as leverage and stalling for time to avoid any real path to peace,” said Budrys.
Mr Putin’s proposal for direct talks with Ukraine came hours after major European powers demanded on Saturday in Kyiv that Mr Putin agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire or face “massive” new sanctions.
French president Emmanuel Macron said that Mr Putin’s proposal for direct peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv showed that the Russian leader is looking for a way forward but he is also trying to buy time.
“It‘s a first step but it‘s not enough,” Mr Macron told reporters on his way back from Ukraine early on Sunday. “An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations.”
Russia, Mr Putin said, had proposed several ceasefires, including a moratorium on striking energy facilities, an Easter ceasefire and most recently the 72-hour truce during the celebrations marking 80 years since victory in the second World War.
Mr Putin said that during the May ceasefire Ukraine had attacked Russia with 524 aerial drones, 45 sea drones, a number of western missiles and Russia had repelled five attacks on Russian regions. Ukraine accused Russia of violating the temporary truces, including the May 8th-10th ceasefire.
Mr Putin said that talks should address the root causes of the war. “Our proposal, as they say, is on the table. The decision is now up to the Ukrainian authorities and their curators, who are guided, it seems, by their personal political ambitions, and not by the interests of their peoples.”
Mr Putin, whose forces control one-fifth of Ukraine and are advancing, has stood firm in his conditions for ending the war despite public and private pressure from Mr Trump and repeated warnings from European powers.
In June 2024, he said that Ukraine must officially drop its Nato ambitions and withdraw its troops from the entirety of the territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed by Russia.
Russian officials have also proposed that the US recognises Russia’s control over parts of Ukraine and demanded that Ukraine remains neutral though Moscow has said it is not opposed to Kyiv’s ambitions to join the European Union.
– Reuters
