United States President Donald Trump said today that Ukraine should immediately agree to a meeting in Turkey proposed earlier today by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Russian President Putin does not want to have a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday in Turkey to negotiate a possible end to the bloodshed. Ukraine needs to agree to this, now. At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible, and if not, European leaders and the US will know where everything stands and can proceed accordingly. I am beginning to doubt that Ukraine will make a deal with Putin, who is too busy celebrating victory in World War II, which could not have been won (not even close) without the US. Have a meeting now," Trump wrote on the social network "Truth social".
Earlier today, Putin proposed direct peace talks with Ukraine on May 15 in Istanbul, Turkey, in an attempt to "remove the root causes of the conflict" and "achieve the restoration of long-term, lasting peace."
Russia carried out an aggression against Ukraine in February 2022.
"It was not Russia that broke off the negotiations in 2022. It was Kiev. However, we propose that Kiev resume direct negotiations without any preconditions," Putin said, referring to the failed negotiations shortly after the Russian invasion.
Following Putin's proposal, the Kremlin announced that the peace talks with Ukraine, proposed by Putin, would also include a draft agreement between the two countries from 2022 that had been abandoned, as well as the fact that Russia controls almost a fifth of Ukrainian territory.
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Ukraine and European leaders agreed yesterday to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire from May 12 with the support of Trump, threatening Putin with new "massive" sanctions if he does not comply.
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The Kremlin subsequently condemned the "confrontational" attitude of Europeans towards Russia and "contradictory statements by Europe."
Those statements are "mostly based on confrontation, rather than attempts to revive our relations," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
He did not directly address yesterday's ultimatum from Ukraine's EU allies, as well as the US, seeking to force Russia to accept a 30-day "complete and unconditional" ceasefire in Ukraine starting Monday.
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The Kremlin then announced that it would consider a proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine presented by Kiev's Western allies, while warning that it was useless to put pressure on Moscow in this regard, Russian state media reported.
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