Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, late on Saturday night, said he is ready for ‘direct talks’ with Kyiv in Istanbul on Thursday, 15 May.
“We propose to resume direct talks with the Kyiv regime on Thursday, 15 May, in Istanbul,” Putin said in the rare overnight address.
The Russian leader offered to resume direct talks “without preconditions,” saying this was to “eliminate the root causes of the conflict” and “to achieve the restoration of a long-term, lasting peace.”
Moscow had previously said it could consider a ceasefire agreement only under certain conditions, including the total suspension of Western military aid to Ukraine.
Kyiv’s 12 May ceasefire plan
Putin’s offer for direct talks with Ukraine comes after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, with the backing of US President Donald Trump, demanded that Russia agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting on 12 May.
On Saturday, the leaders of France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Poland said their proposal for a ceasefire starting on Monday was supported by US President Donald Trump, whom they had briefed over the phone earlier in the day.
In what was a strong show of solidarity with Ukraine, the four European leaders, with US backing, threatened to increase pressure with sanctions on the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, if he rejected their offer.
The four leaders’ visit to Kyiv marked the first time they had travelled together to Ukraine and the very first official visit for Friedrich Merz as Germany’s new chancellor.
Russia, Ukraine trade blame over Victory Day
Last month, and ahead of the Victory Day parade in Moscow, Putin unilaterally declared a temporary ceasefire from midnight on 8 May until midnight on 11 May.
Despite the three-day unilateral ceasefire by Moscow, fighting reportedly did not stop, with Kyiv and Moscow blaming each other for the continued fighting.
Russia continued its attacks against Ukrainian civilians and its assaults on the front line in Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who described the truce as a “farce” in a post on X.
But in his overnight address, Putin accused Ukraine of escalating attacks against Russia in the days leading up to his Victory Day “truce” and of violating the three-day ceasefire multiple times, including by launching five cross-border incursions into the Kursk and Belgorod regions.
These incursions held “no military significance,” he claimed.
