Ukraine allies rejected the offer of Russian President Vladimir Putin of maintaining direct conversations with Ukrainian authorities, stating that the Russian leader must first accept the United States supported ceasefire proposal.
On Saturday (10), Putin proposed to maintain “direct conversations” with Kiev, Turkey, on May 15. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded with apprehension on Sunday (11), calling her a “positive signal” and stating that her country is “ready to meet” with Russian authorities.
But in a few hours, a choir of Ukraine allies asked Putin to agree first with the 30-day ceasefire proposal before new negotiations.
“An unconditional ceasefire first and, during him, advance to comprehensive discussions of peace. Not the other way around,” Keith Kellogg, special envoy of the Trump government to Ukraine told.
Poland Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who met Zelensky on Saturday in Kiev, along with France, United Kingdom and Germany, said the world still awaits Putin’s “unique decision on an immediate and unconditional ceasefire”.
During Saturday’s meeting in Kiev, Ukraine’s main allies announced a deadline until Monday (12) for Russia to accept the new ceasefire proposal, under penalty of new “mass” sanctions.
In a rare televised speech at 1 am Sunday, Putin did not mention the proposal and, instead, said he would like to maintain “direct conversations” with Ukraine in Istanbul on Thursday (15), something not seen since the first weeks of the large-scale invasion of Moscow in 2022.
“We are determined to start serious negotiations with Ukraine,” Putin said, adding that they aim to “eliminate the deep causes of conflict” and “achieve the establishment of long -term lasting peace.”
By not mentioning the Western ceasefire proposal, Putin effectively ignored her, trying to return the ball to Ukraine. But Ukraine’s allies criticized Putin’s prevarication and accused him of trying, once again, prolonging Russia’s three -year war.
Putin’s counterproposal is not enough, ”said French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday.
“An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations, by definition,” he told reporters, adding that Putin was “looking for a way out, but still wants to earn time.”
At the same time as Putin’s speech, which took place late at night, a three -day break in the Russian leader ordered combats came to an end, with Ukraine reporting more than 100 drone attacks at night. Both sides accused each other to continue the attacks during the truce, ordered by Putin to mark Russia’s victory day in World War II.
Trump reacts to Putin’s offer
The demand for an unconditional ceasefire comes with the support of the White House after a joint call with US President Donald Trump, the Europeans said on Saturday.
Hours after Putin’s proposal, Trump posted on his social networking social network that it was a “potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine!”
“I will continue to work with both sides to make sure this happens,” he said, installing people to “think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved” from the “endless blood bath.”
Two months ago, Ukraine claims to want an immediate ceasefire of 30 days. But Russia refused to commit to, claiming to support the idea of a break in principle, but insists that there is what it calls “nuances” that need to be approached first.
On Sunday, Putin denied that Moscow refused the dialogue with Kiev and said that “the decision now is up to the Ukrainian authorities.”
“We do not rule out that during these negotiations there is the possibility of reaching some kind of new truce, a new ceasefire,” he said.
He called the proposed negotiations “a first step towards stable and lasting peace, but not a prologue to the continuation of an armed conflict after rearmament and the recurrence of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the feverish excavation of trenches in new strongholds.”
Trump made the end of the war in Ukraine one of his priorities and invested a lot of effort to try to convince Putin. His special envoy, Steve Witkoff, went to Russia four times to meet Putin, and there have been several other high -level meetings between American and Russian authorities since Trump returned to the White House in January.
But despite offering some previously unthinkable concessions to Russia, the Trump government failed to make Russia agree with the limited ceasefire proposal, which aimed to pave the way for a permanent truce.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the CNN That Russia is “very grateful” by Washington’s mediation efforts, but added that “at the same time, it is useless to try to press us.”
This content was originally published in Putin must accept ceasefire before negotiating with Ukraine, allies say on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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