Putin says Russia is 'committed' to restart talks with Kyiv, suggests May 15 start
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • last year • 11 commentsBy: Keir Simmons and Mirna Alsharif
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin of Russia said early Sunday that his country is committed to restart direct talks with Kyiv about ending their war, and suggested the next discussions begin May 15 in Turkey.
He said he was scheduled to speak to Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, later Sunday with hopes of holding talks next week in Istanbul. There would be no preconditions on Russia's part, he said.
Putin said Ukraine walked away from such talks in the past and broke ceasefire agreements, though both sides have been blamed for attacks during the last three ceasefires. He used language that expressed his desire for serious talks with long-term consequences, including long-lasting peace.
Putin's comments came on the last day of the three-day ceasefire declared by Russia, and almost immediately after leaders from the United Kingdom, France, Poland and Germany threatened to increase sanctions against the nation if he does not accept an unconditional, 30-day ceasefire starting Monday.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the memorial of fallen Ukrainian soldiers at independence square in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Saturday.Evgeniy Maloletka / AP
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made the demand for an unconditional ceasefire in a news briefing, which included over 30 countries that have pledged to strengthen Ukraine. They also joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the memorial of fallen Ukrainian soldiers at independence square in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Saturday.
The leaders said the proposal to start the ceasefire Monday was supported by U.S. President Donald Trump, whom they had briefed over the phone earlier in the day.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ceasefire aims to enforce a halt to fighting on land, sea and air. The world leaders' show of force came amid mounting efforts to persuade Moscow to agree to a truce that would allow for peace talks on ending over three years of war.
Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, said on X on Saturday that such a ceasefire could "start the process for ending the largest and longest war in Europe since World War II."
Kellogg enlisted a quote from Trump — "stop the killing now" — to bolster his own statement in support of a 30-day ceasefire.
Putin has previously said he wants Ukraine to withdraw from four regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — which Russia illegally annexed shortly after invading Ukraine in February 2022. He has also insisted that Ukraine promise never to join NATO, accept restrictions on the size of its army, and protect Russian culture and language inside the country.
Last week, Putin said Russia had sufficient strength and resources to take the war in Ukraine to its logical conclusion, though he hoped there would be no need to use nuclear weapons.
I think Putin had his chance.
We have to arm the Ukrainians and hope for the best.
We have the chance to have Ukraine break Russia for the cost of supplies.
Trump is clearly powerless to end the war in Ukraine, or anywhere else. The Gaza situation is raging on, and the Indian government totally denied Trump and the US had any influence on the cease fire declared between India and Pakistan.
Trump is a blowhard.
I dont see any surrender on the part of Ukraine, and I believe Europe will have their back. It goes on and on.
None of which will prevent him from taking full credit for any favorable outcome,
That's a given. Saturday, he said no investigations of the Nord Stream pipelines were necessary. He claimed he was the first to blow them up by sanctions and then he said he knew who physically blew up ( 3 of the 4) pipelines
and would gladly tell anyone who asked...
At least he is trying to find solutions to these problem areas, which is way more than the weak and meek Biden administration ever did. Can you imagine how awful it would be if Harris had been elected?
The US would still have friends? Perish the thought!
All he has to do is irresponsibly tweet something hinting this or that is going to be fixed and his gullible supporters have mental orgasms about how great he is
Yes Greg, every time I look at my remaining IRAs and 401K, I imagine how awful it would be to still have the 35% of our retirement funds that the wife and I lost across the board over this slapstick Administration's tariffs and jerking around of the markets, misunderstanding of trade deals etc.
We should have learned during the first Trump term when he just rebranded NAFTA to USMCA with no substantive changes, the same think he just did to the UK, the US gained nothing while reducing the previously existing tariffs, many to below where they were previously held before the unnecessary big stick, tiny carrot approach.
[deleted] [✘] The Dow is down 6% since he was sworn in. It's very hard to lose 35% of your money in that market.
Putin is now claiming the same rare earths that Trump thinks now belong to the US by Treaty.......
Why wait until the 15th?