Trump’s Ukraine envoy says ‘ceasefire first, talks later’
Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Gen Keith Kellogg, has reacted to Vladimir Putin’s proposal for direct talks with Ukraine.
Retweeting the New Zealand prime minister’s support for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, he wrote in a post on X:
Even the Prime Minister of New Zealand gets it. As President Trump has repeatedly said, stop the killing!! An unconditional 30 day ceasefire first and, during it, move into comprehensive peace discussions. Not the other way around.
Putin has not rejected the US-backed European ceasefire proposal, which has been offered to start tomorrow. But instead offered direct talks with Ukraine on Thursday.
He seems to want to appear open to some form of negotiation to curry favour with the Trump administration.
After Putin’s late night proposal, US president Donald Trump posted to Truth social:
A potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine! Think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved as this never ending ‘bloodbath’ hopefully comes to an end. It will be a whole new, and much better, WORLD.
Key events
When Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago, he demanded that Ukraine renounce joining Nato, sharply cut its army, and “protect” Russian language and culture to keep the country in Moscow’s orbit.
He since has also demanded that Kyiv withdraw its forces from the four regions Moscow illegally annexed in September 2022 but never fully occupied — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
There are unconfirmed reports that the White House is considering recognising Russian control of Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014, as part of a broad US proposal to end the war in Ukraine.
Kyiv has said formally surrendering Crimea is a red line that goes against Ukraine’s constitution and would be a concession unconscionable to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Russian officials also have said that any so-called peace deal should involve releasing Russian assets that were frozen in the west and lifting other US and EU sanctions.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will attend the informal Nato foreign ministers meeting in Turkey between 14- 16 May to discuss ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“Looking towards the Nato summit in The Hague this June, the secretary will advance President Trump’s agenda of ensuring that our allies contribute their fair share to making Nato stronger and more effective,” the state department said in a statement.
Rubio said last month that Trump was still interested in trying to negotiate a truce deal, but added that the US had many other priorities around the world and was willing to “move on” unless there were signs of progress.
Trump’s Ukraine envoy says ‘ceasefire first, talks later’
Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Gen Keith Kellogg, has reacted to Vladimir Putin’s proposal for direct talks with Ukraine.
Retweeting the New Zealand prime minister’s support for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, he wrote in a post on X:
Even the Prime Minister of New Zealand gets it. As President Trump has repeatedly said, stop the killing!! An unconditional 30 day ceasefire first and, during it, move into comprehensive peace discussions. Not the other way around.
Putin has not rejected the US-backed European ceasefire proposal, which has been offered to start tomorrow. But instead offered direct talks with Ukraine on Thursday.
He seems to want to appear open to some form of negotiation to curry favour with the Trump administration.
After Putin’s late night proposal, US president Donald Trump posted to Truth social:
A potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine! Think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved as this never ending ‘bloodbath’ hopefully comes to an end. It will be a whole new, and much better, WORLD.
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.
Summary of the day so far…
It is approaching 3pm in Kyiv. Here is a roundup of the main events so far today:
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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”.
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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.
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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”.
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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”.
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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!
German chancellor says Russian proposal for Ukraine talks is ‘far from sufficient’
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.
Turkish president says ‘historic turning point’ has been reached in efforts to end the war
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 calls for ‘authentic, just and lasting’ peace in Ukraine in first Sunday message
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 officially resumes war in Ukraine after conclusion of three-day ‘truce’
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.
