CNN
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Ukraine’s allies have dismissed Vladimir Putin’s offer for “direct” peace talks with Ukraine, saying that the Russian president must first accept a US-backed ceasefire proposal before further discussions.
The leaders of France, Britain, Germany, Poland and Ukraine met in Kyiv on Saturday to send an ultimatum to Putin: agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine by Monday or face “massive” new sanctions. Friedrich Merz, Germany’s new chancellor, said US President Trump supported the initiative.
But in a late-night address, Putin did not acknowledge the ceasefire offer. Instead, he proposed holding “direct talks” with Kyiv in Turkey on Thursday – something not seen since the early weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
“The decision now lies with the Ukrainian authorities,” Putin said.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky responded with trepidation Sunday. He called Putin’s offer a positive sign and confirmed that Ukraine is “ready to meet” with Russian officials, but stressed that Kyiv first expects Moscow to agree to the new ceasefire proposal.
Within hours, Ukraine’s allies issued much more forceful rebuttals to Putin’s offer, saying there can be no new talks before a ceasefire.
Merz said talks “cannot begin until weapons fall silent.” Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the world is still waiting on Russia’s “univocal decision on an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.” French President Emmanuel Macron said Putin’s counter-offer is “not enough.”
“An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations, by definition,” Macron told reporters Sunday, after crossing by train from Ukraine into Poland. He said Putin was “looking for a way out” and “still wants to buy time.”
Keith Kellogg, the Trump administration’s special envoy to Ukraine, echoed the Europeans’ claims.
“An unconditional ceasefire first and, during it, move into comprehensive peace discussions. Not the other way round,” said Kellogg, whose influence in the Trump administration has dwindled since January.
Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, nonetheless thanked Kellogg for his intervention, stressing that Ukraine’s position remains “first, a ceasefire for at least 30 days, and then everything else.”
For months, while Russia pounded Ukrainian cities with airstrikes and its offensive ground through the east of the country, Ukraine and its allies have tried to convince the Trump administration that Putin acts in bad faith, and have said Russia’s agreeing to a ceasefire can function as a test of whether it is serious about achieving the peace the US president has long demanded.
But Putin’s offer for direct talks – made in a rare televised address at 1 a.m. local time Sunday – is an attempt to put the ball back in Ukraine’s court and distract from the fact that Russia is likely to snub Monday’s ceasefire deadline, analysts say.
Zelensky could be put under “huge pressure” to agree to hold talks in Turkey, Sergey Radchenko, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, told CNN.
“Why? Because otherwise, he’ll have to deal with Trump, who’s going to say, ‘Why are you undermining my peace initiative here? Why can’t you just talk?’”
Already attempting to set the stage for talks, Putin spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday. The Kremlin said Erdogan “fully supported” Putin’s proposal for peace talks and had offered Istanbul as a venue.
Although Ankara confirmed Turkey is ready to host the negotiations, a statement from the country’s presidency suggested that it agreed with Ukraine’s allies that a ceasefire must come before talks.
“Noting that a window of opportunity to achieve peace has opened, President Erdoğan said that a comprehensive ceasefire would create the necessary environment for peace talks,” the statement read. It did not say whether Turkey would decline to host the talks if Russia refused the ceasefire offer.
Later Sunday, the White House said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Turkey from Wednesday to Friday, to attend an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers and discuss “ending the Russia-Ukraine war,” meaning he will be in the country on the day of Putin’s proposed peace talks.
The five European leaders in Kyiv held a call with Trump on Saturday, saying that the US president backed their demand that Russia agree to a ceasefire.
But after Putin’s late-night proposal, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Saturday was 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,” Trump said. “I will continue to work with both sides to make sure that it happens.”
Last week, Trump called for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, without providing a deadline. “If the ceasefire is not respected, the US and its partners will impose further sanctions,” he warned.
But whether the Trump administration insists on Monday’s deadline, or whether the attention now shifts to Thursday’s potential talks in Istanbul, is unclear.
“Putin is very eager to make sure he retains American goodwill, because there’s the parallel process of Russia-American normalization that’s going on” alongside efforts to end the war in Ukraine, said Radchenko.
“He knows that Trump wants direct talks,” Radchenko said. “Now, by saying, ‘Look, we’re offering talks and the Ukrainians are the ones who are not agreeing,’ he is putting the ball back in Kyiv’s court.”
In his address, Putin said Russia does not rule out that “during these talks there will be a possibility to arrange some kind of new truce, a new ceasefire,” but stressed that the talks will aim to eliminate the “root causes” of the conflict.
Around the same time as Putin’s late-night speech, a three-day pause in fighting ordered by Russia’s leader came to an end, with Ukraine reporting more than 100 drone attacks overnight. Both sides accused each other of continuing attacks during the truce, ordered by Putin to mark Russia’s World War II Victory Day.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told CNN that Russia is “very grateful” for Washington’s mediation efforts, but added that “at the same time, it’s quite useless to try to press on us.”
