Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15 to end the conflict, but remained silent on a 30-day ceasefire proposal drawn up by European allies of Kyiv. Speaking at the Kremlin, Putin called for talks “without any preconditions” to “eliminate the root causes of the conflict and establish a long-lasting peace”.
“We propose to the Kyiv authorities to resume the talks that they broke off in 2022,” Putin said, adding that Russia is “committed to serious negotiations with Ukraine”. Putin also expressed willingness to discuss a new ceasefire during the talks, but accused Ukraine’s Western backers of wanting to “continue war with Russia” and slammed European “ultimatums” and “anti-Russian rhetoric”.
The proposal comes after European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv to discuss a 30-day unconditional ceasefire starting on Monday. “We have just now… decided to support a ceasefire which will begin next Monday, without any preconditions,” Macron announced.
The leaders also agreed to prepare and coordinate massive sanctions with Europeans and Americans in the event of a ceasefire violation. US President Donald Trump expressed optimism about the proposal, posting on Truth Social that it could be “a potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine”. However, Macron warned that Putin might be trying “to buy time”, emphasizing that “an unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations, by definition”.
The UK’s Starmer highlighted the unity among countries supporting the ceasefire, stating that the Kyiv talks had led to “absolute unity across a whole range of countries around the world, including the United States, that there must be that 30-day unconditional ceasefire”. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also supported the truce, emphasizing that it “must be implemented without pre-conditions to pave the way for meaningful peace negotiations”.
The symbolic show of European unity came a day after Putin struck a defiant tone at a Moscow parade marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Despite a unilateral three-day truce ordered by Putin for the event, a Ukrainian army brigade operating in the east reported that the intensity of fighting had remained “pretty much the same”.