Putin offers Ukraine to resume direct peace talks in Istanbul

MOSCOW

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed direct negotiations in Istanbul in the coming days to end the conflict in Ukraine.

Speaking at the Kremlin in the early hours yesterday, Putin proposed direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15, hours after Kiev and the leaders of France, Germany, Britain and Poland had called for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire to start today.

"We propose to the Kiev authorities to resume the talks that they broke off in 2022, and, I emphasize, without any preconditions," Putin said.

"We propose to start [negotiations] without delay on Thursday May 15 in Istanbul," Putin said, adding that he would talk to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan soon to ask for his help to facilitate the talks.

Zelensky said yesterday he expects Moscow to commit to a 30-day ceasefire, adding that Kiev was "ready" to meet Russia.

"There is no point in continuing the killing even for a single day. We expect Russia to confirm a ceasefire, full, lasting and reliable, starting tomorrow, May 12, and Ukraine is ready to meet," Zelensky said on social media.

Sounding a rare note of optimism, the Ukrainian leader likewise said he saw positive signals from Russia.

"It is a positive sign that the Russians have finally begun to consider ending the war," Zelensky said.

"The entire world has been waiting for this for a very long time. And the very first step in truly ending any war is a ceasefire."

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held direct talks in Istanbul in the first weeks of the conflict, but failed to agree to halt the fighting, which has been raging ever since.

Putin said he was "committed to serious negotiations with Ukraine" and that he wanted talks to "eliminate the root causes of the conflict and to establish a long-lasting peace."

Russia's references to the "root causes" of the conflict typically refer to grievances with Kiev and the West that Moscow has put forward as justification for launching the offensive in February 2022.

"We do not exclude that during these talks we will be able to agree on some new ceasefire," Putin said in the Kremlin address.

But he also accused Ukraine's Western backers of wanting to "continue war with Russia," and, without mentioning the specific Ukraine-European proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, slammed European "ultimatums" and "anti-Russian rhetoric."

"A potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine!" U.S. President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform shortly afterwards, without specifying what he was referring to.

He vowed to "continue to work with both sides to make sure that it happens."

But French President Emmanuel Macron, who hours earlier had met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Kiev in a symbolic show of support for Ukraine, warned that Putin was merely trying "to buy time."

"An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations, by definition," he told reporters as he stepped off a train in the Polish city of Przemysl on his return from Ukraine.