Putin wants direct talks with Ukraine, but Zelenskyy and allies demand 30-day ceasefire

Russia's president has suggested fresh peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul as part of "direct negotiations" but also "without preconditions".

Vladimir Putin put forward the proposal as European leaders including Sir Keir Starmer threatened him with fresh sanctions if Russia failed to comply with an unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting on Monday. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told CNN that Moscow will need to consider those terms.

Posting on Truth Social on Sunday morning, Donald Trump wrote there was a "big week upcoming" as he outlined his hopes to resolve what he called the "never-ending bloodbath" and save "hundreds of thousands of lives". The US president did not mention the proposed ceasefire on Monday or Mr Putin's planned talks, but stated that he would work with both Russia and Ukraine to end the conflict.

"The USA wants to focus, instead, on rebuilding and trade," he wrote. Earlier on Saturday, the prime minister met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, recently elected German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Kyiv.

Speaking at the Kremlin in the early hours of Sunday, Mr Putin did not directly address the 30-day ceasefire proposal but instead offered to restart peace talks Russia and Ukraine held in 2022. "We propose the Kyiv authorities resume the negotiations they interrupted at the end of 2022...

to resume direct negotiations... without any preconditions...

to begin without delay next Thursday 15 May in Istanbul," he said. Russia's own unilateral three-day ceasefire, declared for the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany, expired on Saturday, and Ukraine said Russian forces have repeatedly violated it.

During the summit in Kyiv, European leaders secured the backing of Donald Trump after briefing him on the progress made on the so-called "coalition of the willing" plans in a 20-minute phone call. "All of us here, together with the US, are calling Putin out," said Sir Keir.

"So we are clear, all five leaders here - all the leaders of the meeting we just had with the coalition of the willing - an unconditional ceasefire, rejecting Putin's conditions, and clear that if he turns his back on peace, we will respond. "Working with President Trump, with all our partners, we will ramp up sanctions and increase our military aid for Ukraine's defence to pressure Russia back to the table." It comes after President Trump called for "ideally" a 30-day ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow, and warned that if any pause in the fighting is not respected "the US and its partners will impose further sanctions".

During Mr Putin's statement on Sunday, he insisted he would support peace talks: "We are committed to serious negotiations with Ukraine." He told reporters: "Their purpose is to eliminate the root causes of the conflict, to establish a long-term, lasting peace. We do not rule out that during these negotiations it will be possible to agree on some new truces, a new ceasefire." Responding to Mr Putin's proposal, France's President Macron said the Russian leader is "looking for a way forward, but he still has a desire to buy time".

Mr Putin's proposed negotiations are "a first step, but they are not sufficient," he told French broadcaster BFM. "An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations, by definition." The Russian leader is "looking for a way forward, but he still has a desire to buy time," he said.

"An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations, by definition." Security and defence analyst Michael Clarke told Sky News presenter Samantha Washington the European leaders are "rowing in behind" the US president, who referred to his "European allies" for the first time in this context in a post on his Truth Social platform. "So this meeting is all about heaping pressure on the Russians to go along with the American proposal," he said.

"It's the closest the Europeans and the US have been for about three months on this issue." Mr Zelenskyy told reporters the agreed ceasefire should cover air, sea and land, and said that if Moscow refused, Russia would face new sanctions, including the strengthening of punitive measures targeting its energy and banking sectors. The European leaders said the terms of a peace deal would be negotiated during the 30-day pause in fighting.

But the Ukrainian president said: "We have no illusions that the ceasefire will be breached." Mr Macron said the proposed ceasefire would be monitored mainly by the US and European countries and there would be "massive" sanctions if Russia did not agree. Speaking to French broadcaster BFM, the French president said Mr Putin's proposed negotiations are "a first step, but they are not sufficient".

The Russian leader is "looking for a way forward, but he still has a desire to buy time," he said. "An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations, by definition." Military officers from around 30 countries have been involved in drawing up plans for a coalition, which would provide a peacekeeping force in the event of a ceasefire being agreed between Russia and Ukraine.

This force "would help regenerate Ukraine's armed forces after any peace deal and strengthen confidence in any future peace.