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Will Zelensky, Putin come face-to-face? Ukraine prez says 'will be waiting on Thursday'
Zelensky also said that Ukraine expected a full ceasefire to start on Monday in order to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy to end the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he would be ready to meet Vladimir Putin for talks in Istanbul on Thursday after US President Donald Trump told him to agree to an offer of talks with Russia immediately.
Zelensky, in a post on X, also said that Ukraine expected a full ceasefire to start on Monday in order to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy to end the war.
"And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday," he said.
If it happens, it will be the first meeting between the two leaders since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine more than three years ago.
Zelenskyy’s comments came a few hours after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin effectively rejected a ceasefire offer made a day earlier by Ukraine and its European allies. Putin countered with a proposal to restart direct talks with Ukraine, during which a truce could be negotiated.
During his election campaign, Donald Trump had promised to end the fighting swiftly but his administration recently indicated it might walk away from the peace process if there was no tangible progress.
Trump said in a social media post Sunday that Ukraine should agree to Putin's peace talks proposal “IMMEDIATELY.”
“At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible, and if it is not, European leaders, and the U.S., will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly!” Trump wrote, adding: “HAVE THE MEETING, NOW!!!”
Where do things stand?
Vladimir Putin sent Russia's armed forces into Ukraine in February 2022, unleashing a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and triggered the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
With Russian forces grinding forward, the Kremlin chief has offered few, if any, concessions so far.
In his overnight address, he proposed what he said would be "direct negotiations without any preconditions".
But almost immediately, senior Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters the talks must take into account both an abandoned 2022 draft peace deal and the current situation on the ground.
This language is shorthand for Kyiv agreeing to permanent neutrality in return for a security guarantee and accepting that Russia controls swathes of Ukraine.
Putin also dismissed what he said was an attempt to lay down "ultimatums" in the form of Western European and Ukrainian demands for a ceasefire starting on Monday. His foreign ministry spelled out that talks about the root causes of the conflict must precede discussions of a ceasefire.
