France insists that Russia’s proposal for direct talks with Ukraine aimed at ending must involve a unconditional, 30-day ceasefire.
In a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said "a historic turning point" had been reached, after Russia agreed to direct talks with Ukraine next Thursday in Istanbul, and that the opportunity should be seized to once again negotiations, according to Erdogan's office.
Macron stressed the "necessity" for Russia to agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, his office said of the call.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin read a televised statement in which he proposed "direct negotiations without any preconditions" talks with Ukraine aimed at ending the war.
This came just hours after the Macron and other European leaders were in Kyiv to demand that Russia agree to a ceasefire starting Monday or face "massive" new sanctions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who had agreed to talks if Moscow agreed to the 30-day ceasefire, later said he was ready to meet Putin after US President Donald Trump told him publicly to immediately accept the proposal.
"I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally," Zelenskiy wrote on X. "I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses."
Erdogan told Putin in a phone call that Turkey was ready to host the negotiations, but that a comprehensive ceasefire would create the necessary environment for peace talks, a readout from their call said.
Turkey hosted talks between Russia and Ukraine in March 2022, just after Russia’s invasion.
The draft agreement discussed then would have required Ukraine to give up its Nato ambitions and accept permanent neutral and nuclear-free status in return for security guarantees from the five permanent United Nationsl Security Council members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters after Putin’s statement that the talks must take into account that draft agreement and the current situation on the ground.
Ukraine has said agreeing to the terms of the 2022 draft would be tantamount to capitulation.
(with Reuters)
