MOSCOW, May 11 – Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed resuming direct peace talks with Ukraine, suggesting Istanbul as the venue and May 15 as the date, CNN reported. The announcement comes amid growing international pressure for a ceasefire and fresh diplomatic engagement.
“We would like to start immediately, already next Thursday, May 15, in Istanbul, where they were held before and where they were interrupted,” Putin said in a televised address late Friday. He added that the talks should take place “without any preconditions.”
The Russian leader described the offer as part of a sincere effort to end hostilities. “We are set on serious negotiations with Ukraine,” he said. “They are intended to eliminate the root causes of the conflict and reach the establishment of a long-term, durable peace.”
This proposed diplomatic shift came just hours after the leaders of Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Poland met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv. The leaders jointly urged Moscow to agree to a 30-day ceasefire starting Monday or face “massive sanctions,” according to French President Emmanuel Macron.
According to CNN, the U.S. and European powers have ramped up efforts in recent weeks to pressure Russia into de-escalation. Direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have not taken place since the war began in 2022.
Putin said he plans to speak with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about facilitating the meeting in Istanbul, where previous rounds of talks were held but later stalled.
Describing the proposed meeting as “a first step to a long-lasting stable peace,” Putin warned that it should not become “a prologue to the continuation of an armed conflict after re-armament and re-equipping of Ukrainian armed forces and feverish digging of trenches in new strongholds.”
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in via Truth Social, warning that the United States and its allies would impose additional sanctions if the ceasefire is violated.
Trump, who returned to the White House in January, has made resolving the Ukraine conflict a top foreign policy goal.
CNN reported that Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, has made multiple visits to Moscow for high-level discussions, part of a broader diplomatic effort to bring both sides to the negotiating table.
