Shortly after US President Donald Trump pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to “immediately” accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer to undertake peace talks in Turkey, Zelensky stated he is ready to see Putin this week.
Following their Saturday summit in Kyiv, Ukraine’s main European partners issued a warning to Russia: by Monday, commit to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine or risk “massive” additional penalties. Friedrich Merz, Germany’s incoming chancellor, stated that Trump backed the proposal.
Putin refused to recognise the ultimatum in a late-night speech. On Thursday, he suggested starting “direct talks” with Ukraine in Turkey, disregarding the ceasefire offer. This hasn’t happened since the first few weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s supporters emphasised that no more negotiations could take place until Putin consented to an absolute ceasefire. However, by stating that Ukraine should “immediately” consent to meet with Russian representatives on Thursday, Trump undercut the attempts to exert pressure on Putin.
Within an hour, Zelensky declared that he was ready to meet with Putin this week. This would be the first time the two leaders had met since Russia started the war.
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