Ukraine war live: Trump envoy says ‘ceasefire first, talks later’ after Putin’s peace talk proposal | Ukraine

The Kremlin said Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had told Vladimir Putin in a call that he “fully supported” the Russian leader’s proposal for direct negotiations with Ukraine and was ready to host the talks in Istanbul on Thursday.

Here is a summary of the call, provided by Turkey’s directorate of communications:

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke by phone with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. The call addressed the Türkiye-Russia relations as well as regional and global matters.

Welcoming President Putin’s statement for the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine to be resumed in İstanbul, President Erdoğan said that Türkiye stands ready to host the negotiations that will lead to a lasting solution.

Noting that a window of opportunity to achieve peace has opened, President Erdoğan said that a comprehensive ceasefire would create the necessary environment for peace talks.

It is approaching 3pm in Kyiv. Here is a roundup of the main events so far today:

• Russian president Vladimir Putin proposed direct talks with Ukraine on 15 May in Istanbul to achieve what he claims could be “the restoration of a long-term, lasting peace” if certain conditions are met. Putin said he wants to address what he calls “the root causes of the conflict”.

• In response, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s consideration of ending the war is a “positive sign” and that Ukraine is open to direct talks with Russia later this week, but only if Moscow signs up to an unconditional ceasefire first.

• European leaders from the UK, France, Germany and Poland demanded on Saturday in Kyiv that Putin agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting tomorrow or face “massive” new sanctions. Putin has dismissed what he said was the attempt by some European powers to lay down “ultimatums”.

• France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, responded to Putin’s proposal for direct talks by saying there can be no proper negotiations while “civilians are being bombed”. German chancellor Friedrich Merz said Russia’s offer to negotiate directly with Ukraine is “a good sign” but “far from sufficient”.

• Despite Putin’s call for so-called peace talks, Russia on Sunday launched a drone attack on Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, injuring one person in the region surrounding the capital and damaging several private homes, according to officials.

You can read more on the latest developments from Ukraine in this story.

Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk is the latest to respond to Vladimir Putin’s proposal for direct talks with Ukraine.

Writing in a post on X, Tusk, who was with other European leaders in Kyiv on Saturday, said:

In response to our appeal, the Russians have proposed peace talks starting May 15.

The world, however, іs waiting for univocal decision on an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. Ukraine is ready. No more victims!

The new German chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday that Russia’s offer to negotiate directly with Ukraine is “a good sign” but “far from sufficient”.

“We expect Moscow to agree to a ceasefire that allows real talks to take place. First the weapons must be silenced, then the discussions can begin,” he said in a statement carried by the Agence France-Presse news agency.

Merz, who was confirmed as chancellor after a shaky start on Tuesday, has promised to put staunch support of Ukraine at the heart of his government amid persistent concerns over US security commitments to Europe under Donald Trump.

As the Guardian’s Europe correspondent, Jon Henley, notes in this story, Merz is more open than his predecessor Olaf Scholz to sending German long-range missiles to Ukraine and to deploying German troops as part of a peacekeeping force.

He joined the UK’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron and Polish prime minister Donald Tusk in Kyiv on Saturday where they met Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a show of support for Ukraine.

Nato member Turkey, led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has positioned itself as a potential mediator in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

It has maintained cordial ties with both sides and has voiced support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and provided it with military help, while opposing western sanctions on Russia.

Erdoğan on Sunday told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that a “historic turning point” had been reached in efforts to end the war, according to the Turkish president’s office.

In a phone call, Erdoğan was quoted as having told Macron:

A historic turning point has been reached in efforts to end the war between Ukraine and Russia, that this opportunity must be seized, and that Turkey is ready to provide all kinds of support, including hosting negotiations, to achieve a ceasefire and lasting peace.

As a reminder, Russian president Vladimir Putin said the proposed talks with Ukraine – to “solve the root causes of the conflict” – should be held in the Turkish city of Istanbul on 15 May, as they have been before.

Pope Leo XIV has given his first Sunday message to crowds in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City since his election as pontiff last week.

The new pope called for an “authentic and lasting peace” in Ukraine and a ceasefire in Gaza and release of all Israeli hostages. Leo called on the world’s major powers for “no more war”.

He said he carries in his heart the “suffering of the beloved people of Ukraine” and appealed for negotiations to reach an “authentic, just and lasting peace”, carrying on the tradition of the late Pope Francis who had called for talks between Ukraine and Russia to end the war and repeatedly condemned the senseless deaths of civilians.

Russia says its soldiers are continuing with their “special military operation” – what the Kremlin calls the full-scale invasion of Ukraine – now that the three-day ceasefire has ended (see post at 10.08 for more details on this temporary truce).

Russian forces have slowly increased the size of territory they control over the past year, making incremental battlefield gains mostly in the east of Ukraine.

On Saturday morning, local officials in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region said Russian shelling over the past day had killed three residents and injured four more.

Another civilian died on the spot on Saturday as a Russian drone struck the southern city of Kherson, according to regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin.

An Associated Press tally, based on reports from Ukrainian authorities, found at least 117 civilians had been killed and more than 1,000 injured in Russian aerial attacks since Ukraine announced on 11 March its willingness for a ceasefire.

Western leaders have repeatedly cast Vladimir Putin as untrustworthy, pointing to past ceasefire violations and broken promises.

In mid April the Russian leader announced a 30 hour “Easter truce” ceasefire, claiming he had ordered his forces to “stop all military activity” along the frontline during this window for “humanitarian reasons”.

While the ceasefire did see a decrease in fighting, there were claims of hundreds of breaches from both sides.

At the time, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of creating a mere “impression” of a ceasefire as Moscow continued shelling areas of Ukraine.

Here is a video of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, proposing restarting direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on 15 May.

Shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was launched in February 2022, Turkey hosted unsuccessful talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators aimed at ending the fighting.

The proposed deal reportedly included provisions for Ukraine’s neutral status and put limits on its armed forces, while delaying talks on the status of Russian-occupied areas.

Moscow has blamed Kyiv and the west for the talks collapsing.

According to the Tass state news agency, the Russian defence ministry said that Ukraine violated the three-day truce, which ended on Saturday, more than 14,000 times, and that Kyiv’s troops had made five attempts to breach Russia’s southern border.

On Thursday, the first day of the ceasefire, Ukraine accused Russia of more than 730 violations and said its forces would respond accordingly.

We have not yet been able to independently verify any of the violation figures given by either side.

Andriy Yermak, Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, has said Kyiv expects Russia to confirm it will abide by the US-backed 30-day ceasefire, starting on Monday, before meeting for talks later in the week.

First there has to a ceasefire “then everything else”, Yermak posted on Telegram.

“Russia should not disguise its desire to continue the war with vague statements,” he added.

Saturday’s visit by European leaders to Kyiv, where the unconditional 30-day ceasefire was proposed, came on the last day of a three-day truce in the war, which was declared by Moscow. The temporary ceasefire coincided with the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war.

Kyiv said it was designed to avoid Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia during celebrations marking the Soviet victory in the second world war, which were held in Moscow on Friday.

Fighting did reportedly decrease between the 8-10 May period, but both Kyiv and Moscow accused each other of breaking the ceasefire.

Despite Vladimir Putin’s call for so-called peace talks, Russia on Sunday launched a drone attack on Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, injuring one person in the region surrounding the capital and damaging several private homes, Ukrainian officials said.

The attack began around 2am this morning, with Russian forces launching 108 drones (including decoys) from multiple directions, Ukraine’s air force said.

Ukrainian air defence systems had shot down 60 drones launched across the eastern, northern, southern, and central regions of Ukraine as of 09.30am, the country’s air force said.

Another 41 drones were reportedly lost from radar but did not cause damage.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties but Ukraine’s air force said that the Sumy region – which borders on Russia’s Kursk region – suffered as a result of the Russian attack, without elaboration.

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, has responded to Vladimir Putin’s proposal in a post on X this morning.

He wrote:

In Kyiv and alongside President Trump, we made a clear proposal: an unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting on Monday. President Zelenskyy committed without setting any condition. We now expect an equally clear response from Russia.

There can be no negotiations while weapons are speaking. There can be no dialogue if, at the same time, civilians are being bombed. A ceasefire is needed now, so that talks can begin. For peace.

Macron, a staunch supporter of Kyiv, has said previously that any peace deal must “not be a surrender of Ukraine” and must be backed up by security guarantees.

Vladimir Putin’s proposal for “direct talks” with Kyiv came hours after leaders from the UK, France, Germany and Poland travelled to Kyiv to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

As my colleague Shaun Walker notes in this story, the European leaders told the Russian president to sign up to an unconditional ceasefire by Monday or face increased sanctions and weapons transfers to Ukraine.

They said the ceasefire proposal was supported by Donald Trump, whom they had briefed over the phone earlier in the day.

France’s president Emmanuel Macron said that the US would take the lead in monitoring the proposed ceasefire, with support from European countries, and threatened “massive sanctions … prepared and coordinated, between Europeans and Americans” should Russia violate the truce.

At a joint press conference, the UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer said the leaders were demanding “an unconditional ceasefire, rejecting Putin’s conditions, and [are] clear that if he turns his back on peace, we will respond”.

Putin rejected the calls for a ceasefire, but said he was ready for direct negotiations with Ukraine.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has just welcomed Vladimir Putin’s proposal for direct talks in Istanbul on Thursday, but said his team is expecting Moscow to agree to a “lasting” ceasefire starting tomorrow.

In a post on X, Zelenskyy, without responding explicitly to Putin’s invitation for talks in Turkey, wrote:

It is a positive sign that the Russians have finally begun to consider ending the war.

The entire world has been waiting for this for a very long time. And the very first step in truly ending any war is a ceasefire. There is no point in continuing the killing even for a single day.

We expect Russia to confirm a ceasefire – full, lasting, and reliable – starting tomorrow, May 12th, and Ukraine is ready to meet.

Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin has proposed direct talks with Ukraine on 15 May in Istanbul to achieve what he claims could be “the restoration of a long-term, lasting peace” if certain conditions are met.

In a rare televised late-night address from the Kremlin, the Russian president said he wants to address what he calls “the root causes of the conflict”, which will likely include demands that Ukraine will never join Nato.

“We are proposing that Kyiv resume direct negotiations without any preconditions,” the Russian leader said.

Putin said that he would speak to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan later on Sunday about facilitating the talks.

“Our proposal, as they say, is on the table. The decision is now up to the Ukrainian authorities and their curators, who are guided, it seems, by their personal political ambitions, and not by the interests of their peoples.”

Ukraine has not yet commented on Putin’s proposal but Donald Trump, whom Kyiv is reliant upon for military aid, said this could be a “potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine”, as he vows to “continue to work with both sides”.

Putin put forward the late night proposal after European leaders threatened Moscow with fresh sanctions if Russia failed to comply with an unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting tomorrow. He dismissed what he said was the attempt by some European powers to lay down “ultimatums”.

Moscow demanded yesterday that the west must stop arming Kyiv before any ceasefire can start, which would leave Ukraine in an extremely vulnerable position and likely lead to more Russian advances on the battlefield.

Analysts say that Putin is not serious about peace talks and will not agree to a ceasefire.

They see his latest proposal as a way for him to appear serious about peace to Washington but drive a further wedge between the Trump administration, which wants to bring a quick end to the war, and Kyiv, which will look inflexible if it rejects maximalist positions demanded by Moscow the Kremlin knew it would not accept.