Zelenskyy agrees to talks with Putin in Istanbul

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was ready to speak personally with Russian ruler Vladimir Putin on Thursday in Istanbul. He said this in his X on the evening of May 11.

Zelenskyy said that he accepted Russia’s offer to hold direct talks in Istanbul on May 15 and that he would personally wait for Putin there.

At the same time, he emphasized that he expects Russia to be completely “silent” on the front from Monday, April 12, as European leaders and Ukraine had said the day before.

“We expect a complete and lasting ceasefire from tomorrow to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy. There is no point in prolonging the killings. I will be waiting for Putin on Thursday in Turkey. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for reasons why they cannot,” the president of Ukraine wrote.

As reported, during a visit to Kyiv on May 10, the leaders of the “Coalition of the Resolute” demanded that Russia agree to an unconditional ceasefire for 30 days starting May 12. In case of refusal, they are ready to apply new sanctions and noted that these would be synchronized steps by Europe and the United States.

Before this announcement, they had a joint phone call with Donald Trump.

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin did not respond to the proposal for a 30-day pause in the fighting but said he was ready for “direct talks” with Kyiv in Istanbul on Thursday, May 15.

The leaders of France and Germany responded by saying that they expected Russia to agree to a ceasefire before the talks could begin. The same signals came from the Trump team.

However, on the evening of May 11, Trump said that he demanded that Ukraine agree to a meeting with Russia in Istanbul, although Moscow ignored the “ceasefire first, talks later” condition.