Vladimir Putin does not respond to the ceasefire plan and offers ‘direct talks’ with Kyiv on May 15

Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, on Saturday night said he is ready for ‘direct talks’ with Kyiv in Istanbul on Thursday, 15 May.

He did not respond to the 30-day ceasefire plan by Kyiv and its Western allies.

“We propose to resume direct talks with the Kyiv regime on Thursday, 15 May, in Istanbul,” Putin said in an overnight address. 

The Russian leader proposed to resume direct talks “without preconditions.”

Moscow previously said it could consider a ceasefire agreement only under certain conditions, including the total suspension of Western military aid to Ukraine. 

Kyiv’s ceasefire plan

On Saturday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders – with the backing of US President Donald Trump – demanded that Russia agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting on 12 May.

Europe and the US threatened to respond with tougher sanctions if Russia refused the proposal.

Putin unilaterally declared a temporary ceasefire around the Victory Day parade in Moscow from midnight on 8 May until midnight on 11 May. 

Despite the three-day unilateral ceasefire by Moscow, fighting reportedly did not stop, with Kyiv and Moscow blaming each other for the continued fighting.

Russia continued its attacks against Ukrainian civilians and its assaults on the front line in Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who described the truce as a “farce” in a post on X.

But in his overnight address, Putin accused Ukraine of escalating attacks against Russia in the days leading up to his Victory Day “truce” and of violating the three-day ceasefire multiple times, including by launching five cross-border incursions into the Kursk and Belgorod regions.

These incursions held “no military significance,” he claimed.