Putin says Russia ready for 'direct talks' with Ukraine

As per CNN, President Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed holding "direct talks" with Ukraine on Thursday in Istanbul.

"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 late-night televised address. He emphasized the talks should be held "without any preconditions", as reported by CNN.

"We are set on serious negotiations with Ukraine," Putin said, adding they are intended to "eliminate the root causes of the conflict" and "reach the establishment of a long-term, durable peace."

According to CNN, the proposal came just hours after the leaders of Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Poland stood alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv and urged Putin to agree to a 30-day ceasefire starting on Monday or face possible "massive sanctions," according to French President Emmanuel Macron.

CNN reported that Ukraine and Russia have not held direct talks since the conflict began in 2022. Putin said Sunday he would speak with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about holding talks with Kyiv.

CNN reported that Putin called the proposed talks "a first step to a long-lasting stable peace but not 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."

Earlier on Thursday, in a post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump said, "if the ceasefire is not respected, the US and its partners will impose further sanctions".

As per CNN, the US President has made ending the war in Ukraine one of his priorities. His special envoy, Steve Witkoff went to Russia several times to hold meetings between several other high-level meetings between US and Russian officials since Trump returned to the White House in January. (ANI)