MOSCOW (REUTERS)
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed direct talks with Ukraine, aimed at bringing a durable peace, on May 15 in Turkey - an initiative welcomed by US President Donald Trump.
Putin sent thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Russian leader, who has offered few concessions towards ending the conflict, said the talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul will be aimed at eliminating the root causes of the war, and restoring a "long-term, lasting peace" rather than simply a pause for rearmament.
"We are proposing that Kyiv resume direct negotiations without any preconditions," Putin said from the Kremlin in the early hours of Sunday.
"We offer the Kyiv authorities to resume negotiations already on Thursday, in Istanbul," he added.
Putin said that he would speak to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan later on Sunday about facilitating the talks, which he said could lead to a ceasefire.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office and Ukraine's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on the proposal.
In a message on the social network Truth Social, Trump hailed Putin's proposal as a positive for ending the war.
"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.
Putin's proposal for direct talks with Ukraine came hours after major European powers demanded on Saturday in Kyiv that Putin agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire or face "massive" new sanctions.
Putin, whose forces have advanced over the past year, has stood firm in his conditions for ending the war despite public and private pressure from Trump and repeated warnings from European powers.
In June 2024, Putin had said that Ukraine must officially drop its NATO ambitions, and withdraw its troops from the entirety of the territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed by Russia.
Russian officials have also proposed that the US recognise Russia's control over about one-fifth of Ukraine, and demanded that Ukraine remains neutral, even with its ambitions to join the European Union.
Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly said he wants to end the "bloodbath" of the Ukraine war, which his administration casts as a proxy war between the United States and Russia.
"I will continue to work with both sides to make sure that it happens. The USA wants to focus, instead, on Rebuilding and Trade. A BIG week upcoming!" Trump said in his Truth Social post on Sunday.