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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that he is ready to start peace talks with Vladimir Putin in Istanbul on Thursday, after Donald Trump told him to meet the Russian president there “immediately”.
“I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally,” Zelenskyy said in a statement late on Sunday. The president’s office confirmed to the Financial Times that travel plans were in the works.
Framing the offer as a test of the Russian leader’s willingness to negotiate in good faith, Zelenskyy added: “I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses.”
His comments came after a back-and-forth in which Ukraine called for Moscow to agree to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire starting Monday, to which Putin said the two sides should instead hold talks this week in Turkey.
Zelenskyy insisted the month-long armistice should take effect as proposed, saying Ukraine awaits “a full and lasting ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy”.
But he said he would heed US President Trump’s advice that “Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY”, referring to Putin’s offer.
“At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible,” the US president wrote on his social networking site Truth Social. “If it is not, European leaders, and the US, will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly!”
Trump complained that he was “starting to doubt that Ukraine will make a deal with Putin”.
The last time Zelenskyy and Putin met in person was on December 2019 in Paris for talks brokered by French President Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, then the German chancellor.
The Kremlin earlier on Sunday said it would not halt the Russian president’s three-year invasion of Ukraine without first holding talks on the “initial reasons” for the conflict.
Putin resumed combat operations in Ukraine immediately after his comments.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, told state TV that Moscow wanted to hold talks in Istanbul based on the failed peace process held there in the war’s early months in 2022, as well as the “real situation [ . . .] on the ground”, where Russia holds the upper hand on the battlefield.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Putin that Turkey was ready to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, Erdoğan’s office said.
Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said Ukraine had “misread” Putin’s statement. “Putin said it very clearly: negotiations about the initial reasons [for the war] first, then a conversation about a ceasefire,” she told state newswire Tass.
Russia’s demands include a bar on Nato membership for Ukraine and recognition of Putin’s annexation of four south-eastern regions, as well as an end to western military support for Kyiv.
A return to the Istanbul talks would also involve Ukraine to pledge neutrality, accept caps on its military and accept Moscow’s demands to protect the Russian language in the country.
Ukraine has said those terms would all but end its existence as a modern state.
The Russian counter-offer is a rejection of the 30-day ceasefire proposal made earlier on Saturday after the leaders of France, Germany, Poland and the UK visited Kyiv to meet Zelenskyy.
Air defences punctuated the early morning silence in Kyiv just hours after the leaders of France, Germany, Poland and the UK departed by train from the Ukrainian capital.
The European partners agreed that if Russia were to refuse a total and unconditional 30-day ceasefire, stricter sanctions would be adopted against the banking and energy sectors, the Elysée said late on Saturday evening.
French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on Sunday that Putin’s response was “a first move, but it is not enough”, adding it was a means of “not responding” to the ceasefire proposals.
“We have to hold firm with the Americans to say that the ceasefire is unconditional and afterwards we can discuss the rest,” he said from an overnight train in Przemyśl, Poland, after departing Kyiv.
“It’s unacceptable for the Ukrainians because they can’t accept parallel discussions while they continue to be bombarded.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also urged Russia to agree to an immediate ceasefire.
In a post on social media platform X on Sunday he wrote: “In response to our appeal, the Russians have proposed peace talks starting May 15. The world, however, is waiting for univocal decision on an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. Ukraine is ready. No more victims!”
Additional reporting by Raphael Minder and Anne-Sylvaine Chassany
