Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a direct meeting with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15th. This is “no prerequisite” to achieve “endless peace” and “eliminate the root cause” of the three-year conflict.
The offer, delivered early on Sunday, comes hours after leaders from Ukraine, France, Germany, Poland and the UK called for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire to begin on Monday.
Leaders who met in Kiev said their calls were supported by President Donald Trump and threatened new “massive” sanctions against Moscow if they disagree with their plans.
Putin did not explicitly address his call for comment, but he condemned Europe’s “ultimate” and “anti-Russian rhetoric” before outlined the fresh Russian-Ukraine negotiation paradox.
“We are proposing that Kyiv will resume direct negotiations without prerequisites,” the Russian president told reporters. “We are offering Kiev authorities to resume negotiations on Thursday in Istanbul.”
Putin said he will talk with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan later on Sunday about facilitating discussions.
There was no immediate response from Ukraine to the proposal.
However, Ukrainian President Voldimia Zelenkie had previously said they were ready for peace talks, but only after the ceasefire was in place.
A full-scale invasion of Russia’s Ukraine, which began in February 2022, killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers, causing the most serious conflict between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
The Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met in person in Istanbul during the first weeks of the conflict, but did not agree to stop the battle.
Putin said Russia is proposing to resume consultations to “achieve the underlying causes of conflict” and “to achieve a long-term, lasting recovery of peace,” rather than simply suspending the recontract “to achieve a long-term restoration of peace.”
“We are not excluded from agreeing to some new ceasefires during these consultations,” he added.
With military advances over the past year, Putin faces rising public and private pressure from Trump and is facing warnings from European powers to end the war.
However, he offered little concessions and stood firm on his terms to end the war.
In June 2024, Putin said Ukraine must formally remove NATO ambitions and withdraw troops from all the territory of the four Ukrainian regions that Russia argued.
Russian officials also suggested that the US recognizes Russian control of about a fifth of Ukraine, and that Moscow is not opposed to Kiev’s ambitions to join the European Union, but demanded that Ukraine remain neutral.
Putin specifically mentioned the 2022 draft contract negotiated by Russia and Ukraine immediately after the invasion of Russia in February 2022.
Under its draft, Ukraine should agree to permanent neutrality in return for international security guarantees from five permanent members of the UN Security Council, China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.
“It wasn’t Russia that destroyed the negotiations in 2022. It was Kiev,” Putin said. “Russia is ready to negotiate without prerequisites.”
He thanked China, Brazil, Africa, the Middle Eastern countries, and the United States for their mediation efforts.
Putin added that Russia has recorded 80 years since its victory in World War II, but has proposed several ceasefires, including an impressive energy facility, and more recently a 72-hour truce, during the celebrations that recorded 80 years in which Ukraine was repeatedly accused of breaching the ceasefire.
He said during May Ukraine attacked Russia with 524 air drones, 45 sea drones and many western missiles, causing Russia to repel five attacks on the Russian region.
Ukraine has also accused Russia of repeatedly violating its own ceasefire.
Earlier on Saturday, Zelenskyy said a visit to Kiev by leaders from France, Germany, Poland and the UK sent a “very important signal.”
After their meeting, five leaders issued a statement calling for a ceasefire “lasting at least 30 days” starting Monday, creating room for diplomatic push to end the war.
“An unconditional ceasefire cannot be under any conditions, and if Russia demands such conditions, this can be viewed as an effort to extend the war and undermine diplomacy,” the statement read.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the US, with support from European countries, led the US in monitoring the proposed ceasefire, threatening “large, prepared and coordinated sanctions between Europeans and Americans.”
Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special mission to Ukraine, said on Saturday that it will “start the process of ending Europe’s largest and longest war since World War II” in a “comprehensive” 30-day ceasefire covering attacks from air, land, sea and infrastructure.
Trump, who wants to be remembered as a peace manager, has repeatedly said he wants to end the “bloodbus” of the Ukrainian war that his administration threw as a proxy war between the US and Russia.
Former US President Joe Biden, Western European leader Ukraine, has repeatedly vowed to invade as an imperial-style land and defeat the Russian army.
Putin is casting war as a turning point in his relationship with Moscow with the West. He says that the Soviet Union humiliated after it fell in 1991 by infringing on the expansion of NATO and considering Moscow’s influence, including Ukraine.
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