Ukrainian President Foludmir Zelinski welcomed Vladimir Putin’s invitation to direct peace talks, but said that Kiev would only meet once Moscow agreed to the unlawful ceasefire for 30 days starting from Monday.
However, the Kremlin insisted that he would not stop the invasion of the Russian president for a period of three years to Ukraine without talking about the “initial causes” of the conflict.
Competitive proposals indicate that Ukraine and Russia remain far from how to start the peace process while they are competing for the goodwill of US President Donald Trump.
“We expect Russia to confirm the ceasefire – full, durable and reliable – starting on May 12, and Ukraine is ready to meet,” Zellinski said in a statement on social media on Sunday.
Putin’s proposal called “a positive sign that the Russians have finally started thinking about ending the war.”
He said: “The whole world was waiting for this for a very long time. The first step in ending any war is really a ceasefire.”
Earlier on Sunday morning, Putin offered negotiations without conditions in Istanbul on Thursday, but he refused to suggest a ceasefire in Ukraine for 30 days.
Although Russia and Ukraine have made it clear that none of the parties were ready to meet unless the other agreed to hold talks on their conditions, but Trump seemed to welcomes the beginning of the peace process after Putin’s statement.
“A great day for Russia and Ukraine!” The American President wrote on social media. “Think about hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved because this never ends” Bloodbath “. We hope it will end. It will be a completely new world, much better, I will continue to work with both sides to make sure it happens.
Putin has resumed combat operations in Ukraine upon his insistence that he will only be conversations to a ceasefire after fulfilling the main demands of Russia to end the war. After he spoke to correspondents in the Kremlin in the early hours of Sunday, the sirens erupted throughout Ukraine, as aircraft aircraft attacked Russian aircraft targets in several regions.
Yuri Ushakov, Foreign Policy Adviser, told Putin, State TV that Moscow wanted to hold talks in Istanbul based on the failed peace process that was held there in the first months of the war in 2022, as well as “the real situation (…) on the ground”, where Russia holds the upper hand on the battlefield.
Erdogan’s office said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Putin that Türkiye was ready to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that Ukraine “misbehaved” Putin’s statement. “Putin said very clearly: negotiations on the initial causes (of war) first, then a conversation about the ceasefire,” she said to the state of New Worss Tas.
Russia’s demands include a tape on NATO membership in Ukraine and the recognition of Putin’s annexation of four regions of southeast, in addition to the end of Western military support to Kev. Returning to Istanbul talks will also include Ukraine to pledge impartiality, accept hats on its army and accept Moscow’s demands to protect the Russian language in the country.
Ukraine said these conditions will end its existence as a modern country.
The Russian antagonist is to reject the 30 -day ceasefire proposal, which was presented earlier on Saturday after he visited the leaders of France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom Kiev to meet Zellinski.
The air defenses are permeated early morning in Kiev, hours after the leaders of France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom left the train from the Ukrainian capital.
European partners have agreed that if Russia refuses to a 30 -day total ceasefire, more stringent sanctions against the banking and energy services sectors will be adopted.
French President Emmanuel Macron told the correspondents on Sunday that Putin’s response was “a first step, but it is not enough,” adding that it was a “do not respond” to the ceasefire proposals.
“We have to keep firmly with the Americans to say that the ceasefire is unconditional and then we can discuss the rest,” said Poland after leaving Kiev.
“It is not acceptable for the Ukrainians because they cannot accept parallel discussions while their bombing continues.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also urged Russia to agree to the immediate ceasefire.
In a post on the social media platform X on Sunday he wrote: “In response to our attractiveness, the Russians suggested peace talks starting from May 15. However, the world is awaiting a monochrome and unconditional ceasefire decision. Ukraine is ready. No more victims!”
Additional reports by Rafael Minand and Ann Silvin Chasani
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