MOSCOW/ANKARA (Reuters) -Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan spoke on Monday to discuss Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin’s proposal to hold direct Russian-Ukrainian talks this week in Turkey, the Russian ministry said.
“The heads of the two ministries discussed issues linked with the initiative by Russian Federation President V.V. Putin about beginning direct talks on a Ukrainian settlement on 15th May in Istanbul,” the ministry said in a statement.
A Turkish diplomatic source earlier said the two ministers had spoken, but gave no further details.
Putin issued the proposal at the weekend after European leaders met in Kyiv and urged Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire in its war in Ukraine by Monday or face new sanctions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy responded by saying he was prepared to meet Putin in Turkey on Thursday. On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump offered to join the prospective Ukraine-Russia talks in Turkey.
Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address on Monday, said Russia had made no response to his proposal to hold talks with Putin on Thursday.
Zelenskiy said Trump supported the proposed meeting “and we would like him to find the opportunity to be in Turkey.”
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ron Popeski; Editing by Leslie Adler and Nia Williams)
