Ukraine is open to direct talks with Russia later this week however provided that Moscow indicators as much as an unconditional ceasefire first, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has mentioned, responding to Vladimir Putin’s in a single day suggestion of negotiations in Turkey.
“There is no point in continuing the killing even for a single day. We expect Russia to confirm a ceasefire – full, lasting and reliable – starting tomorrow, May 12, and Ukraine is ready to meet,” Ukraine’s president mentioned in a publish on X on Sunday morning.
His chief of employees, Andriy Yermak, was clearer in a Telegram publish, in response to Putin’s suggestion that Ukrainian and Russian delegations ought to meet this Thursday in Istanbul: “First a 30-day ceasefire, then everything else.”
The demand for a 30-day ceasefire was set out on Saturday throughout a four-way go to to Kyiv by the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland, who along with Zelenskyy made a telephone name to the US president, Donald Trump, earlier than holding a joint press convention.
If Putin rejected the provide, mentioned the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, “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”.
The Russian president’s response to the ultimatum got here within the uncommon type of a press release learn out to journalists in a ceremonial Kremlin room near 2am native time (midnight BST). He accused Ukraine of breaking earlier ceasefires, however mentioned that “despite this” he was suggesting the 2 events meet for talks, which he mentioned might happen in Istanbul this Thursday. “We are ready for serious talks with Ukraine, and we want to solve the root causes of the conflict,” mentioned Putin.
His tone appeared rigorously calibrated to reject Europe’s calls for but in addition make Moscow seem like taking part in constructively within the eyes of the Trump administration, which has tended to be a lot softer on Moscow than on Kyiv till current days. Putin made a degree of thanking the brand new administration for its efforts to resolve the battle.
Trump’s preliminary response, posted on the Fact Social community a couple of hours later, urged this tactic might have labored. The US president wrote: “A potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine! Think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved as this never ending ‘bloodbath’ hopefully comes to an end. It will be a whole new, and much better, WORLD.”
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, nonetheless, took a special line, writing on X on Sunday morning that no talks can be potential till Putin agreed to the ceasefire.
“President Zelensky committed without setting any condition. We now expect an equally clear response from Russia. There can be no negotiations while weapons are speaking. There can be no dialogue if, at the same time, civilians are being bombed,” he wrote.
The flurry of back-and-forth gives and ultimatums suggests fast-moving diplomacy across the battle, however behind the rhetoric it isn’t clear how a lot of the elemental positions of the 2 sides have modified.
Ukraine and its European allies are demanding a full ceasefire, after which negotiations would then begin on a complete settlement together with a European “reassurance force” inside Ukraine.
Putin, alternatively, has little curiosity in an unconditional ceasefire, and as an alternative desires to maintain combating to extend the stress on Ukraine to enroll to a lot of Moscow’s core calls for, which have modified little for the reason that begin of the conflict. In addition to territorial claims to the areas it occupies, Moscow is predicted to demand ensures over Ukraine’s future political and army selections. The Kremlin has already made it clear it might not settle for western troops stationed in Ukraine.
A lot of what occurs now might rely upon what place Trump takes, and whether or not the European leaders who visited Kyiv on Saturday are in a position to persuade him of their view that direct negotiations whereas combating is constant are unlikely to be advantageous to Ukraine.
Within the hours after Putin’s tackle, Russia launched greater than 100 drones at Ukraine, as a three-day ceasefire unilaterally declared by Putin got here to an finish.
The ceasefire was pegged to the eightieth anniversary of victory within the second world conflict, for which Putin presided over a army parade in Moscow on Friday with friends that included the leaders of China and Brazil. Kyiv rejected that ceasefire, saying it was a cynical try to keep away from assaults on Russia throughout the set-piece parade, whereas Moscow continues to reject requires a longer-term ceasefire.
