A first in 3 yrs: Putin calls for direct talks with Kyiv

Zelenskyy says Ukraine will negotiate once Russia agrees to ceasefire

- REUTERS

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed direct talks with Ukraine aimed at ending the war, an initiative welcomed by his counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said Kyiv was willing to talk but Moscow must agree to a ceasefire.

Putin sent thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, unleashing a war that has killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and triggered the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. With Russian forces grinding forward, the Kremlin chief has offered few, if any, concessions so far but has proposed talks with Ukraine in the Turkish city of Istanbul that he said would be held without preconditions and aimed at a durable peace.

"We are proposing that Kyiv resume direct negotiations without any preconditions," Putin said in a televised statement from the Kremlin that began after 1.30 am on Sunday. "We offer the Kyiv authorities to resume negotiations already on Thursday, in Istanbul."