KYIV − Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would agree to meet Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in Turkey on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump told him immediately to accept Putin’s proposal of direct talks.
The Ukrainian leader had responded guardedly earlier on May 10 after the Russian president, in a night-time televised statement that coincided with prime time in the U.S., proposed that Ukraine and Russia hold direct talks in Istanbul on May 15.
It was not clear that Putin had proposed to attend in person, however.
“I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
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Putin’s proposal came hours after major European powers demanded on May 10 in Kyiv that Putin agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire or face “massive” new sanctions, a position that Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg endorsed on Sunday.
Zelenskyy too had said Ukraine would be ready for talks with Russia, but only after Moscow agreed to the 30-day ceasefire.
Trump weighs in
But Trump, who has the power to continue or sever Washington’s crucial supply of arms to Ukraine, took a different line.
“President Putin of Russia doesn’t want to have a Cease Fire Agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday, in Turkey, to negotiate a possible end to the BLOODBATH. Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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“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!”
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.
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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.”
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Kremlin backtracks after Putin announcement
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 May 12. His foreign ministry spelled out that talks about the root causes of the conflict must precede discussions of a ceasefire.
Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker and has repeatedly promised to end the war, earlier responded to Putin’s address by saying that this could be “A potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine!”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Zelenskyy agrees to meet Putin in Istanbul after Trump weighs in
