Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15, “without preconditions” to achieve “lasting peace” and “eliminate the root causes” of the three-year conflict.The offer, delivered early on Sunday, came hours after the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom called for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire to start on Monday.
The leaders, who were meeting in Kyiv, said their call is backed by United States President Donald Trump and threatened “massive” new sanctions on Moscow if it did not agree with their plan.
Putin did not explicitly address that call in his comments, but slammed European “ultimatums” and “anti-Russian rhetoric” before outlining the counter-proposal for renewed Russia-Ukraine negotiations.
“We are proposing that Kyiv resume direct negotiations without any preconditions,” the Russian president told reporters. “We offer the Kyiv authorities to resume negotiations already on Thursday, in Istanbul.”
Putin said that he would speak to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later on Sunday about facilitating the talks. Advertisement
There was no immediate response from Ukraine to the proposal.
But Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously said he was ready for peace talks, but only after a ceasefire is in place.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, has left hundreds of thousands of soldiers dead and triggered the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West s …