Zelensky Offers First Meeting Of War With Putin After Russia Ignores Ceasefire

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is prepared to meet Vladimir Putin this week, shortly after US President Donald Trump urged him to “immediately” accept the Russian leader’s offer to hold peace talks in Turkey.

After meeting in Kyiv on Saturday, Ukraine’s major European allies gave Russia an ultimatum: agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine by Monday or face “massive” new sanctions. Trump supported the initiative, Germany’s new chancellor Friedrich Merz said.

In a late-night address, Putin did not acknowledge the ultimatum. Ignoring the ceasefire offer, he instead proposed holding “direct talks” with Ukraine in Turkey on Thursday – something not seen since the early weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

Ukraine’s allies spent Sunday stressing that there could be no further talks before Putin agrees to an unconditional ceasefire. But Trump undermined the efforts to put pressure on Putin, saying that Ukraine should “immediately” agree to meet with Russian officials on Thursday.

“HAVE THE MEETING, NOW!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Within an hour, Zelensky said he was prepared to meet with Putin this week, in what would be the leaders’ first meeting since Russia launched its war.

“I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses,” Zelensky said Sunday on X.

Although Zelensky said a “full and lasting ceasefire” from Monday would provide “the necessary basis for diplomacy,” he did not specify that this would be a precondition for attending the talks.

Whereas Putin on Saturday faced a joint call from Europe and the US to accept a ceasefire by Monday’s deadline, his counteroffer of “direct” talks had by Sunday relieved much of the pressure on Moscow and shifted the focus to the potential talks this week. European leaders have not yet said whether they will press ahead with the threatened additional sanctions on Russia if a ceasefire is not in place by Monday.

Before Trump’s comment, Zelensky had responded with trepidation to Putin’s offer, calling it a “positive sign,” but stressing that Kyiv first expects Moscow to agree to the new ceasefire proposal. Ukraine’s European allies more forcefully dismissed Putin’s offer, saying there could be no new talks before a ceasefire.

Merz, Germany’s new chancellor, said talks “cannot begin until weapons fall silent.” Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the world was still waiting on Russia’s “univocal decision on an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.” French President Emmanuel Macron said Putin’s counter-offer was “not enough.”

Keith Kellogg, the Trump administration’s special envoy to Ukraine, whose influence has dwindled since January, echoed the Europeans’ claims, saying a ceasefire must come before talks, “not the other way round.”

But Trump abandoned his earlier demand that Russia agree to a 30-day ceasefire, instead calling on Ukraine to attend the peace talks without preconditions.

For months, Ukraine and its allies tried to convince the Trump administration that Putin acts in bad faith, and have said Russia’s agreeing to a ceasefire could function as a test of whether it is serious about achieving the peace the US president has long demanded.