By Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, 5/11/25
On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed starting direct peace talks with Ukraine without preconditions in Turkey this Thursday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky initially responded by saying there must be a ceasefire before talks could be held. He later said that he was willing to meet with Putin in Istanbul this Thursday, but made clear it would still be conditional on a ceasefire.
“We await a full and lasting ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy. There is no point in prolonging the killings,” Zelesnky wrote on X. “And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses.”
In his announcement proposing the talks, Putin said that Ukraine had rejected previous Russian ceasefire offers, including the three-day truce he declared for Russian Victory Day, which ended at midnight on May 11. Throughout the three days, both sides accused the other of violating the ceasefire.
“I will repeat: we have proposed steps towards a ceasefire on many occasions. We have never refused to engage in dialogue with the Ukrainian side,” Putin said.
President Trump said that he wanted Ukraine to accept Putin’s offer for direct talks without a ceasefire. “President Putin of Russia doesn’t want to have a Cease Fire Agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday, in Turkey, to negotiate a possible end to the BLOODBATH. Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible, and if it is not, European leaders, and the U.S., will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly!” he added.
Despite Trump’s post, Zelensky said he expects a ceasefire to begin on Monday. “Starting tomorrow, we await a ceasefire — this proposal is on the table. A full and unconditional ceasefire, one that lasts long enough to provide a necessary foundation for diplomacy, could significantly bring peace closer,” he said.
European leaders have been threatening to increase sanctions on Russia and ramp up military aid to Ukraine if Moscow doesn’t agree to a 30-day ceasefire, and reportedly have the Trump administration’s support to do so.
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Putin’s Full Remarks at Announcement of Proposal for Direct Talks with Ukraine Without Preconditions
Kremlin website, 5/11/25
Bolding for emphasis is mine. – Natylie
In conclusion to festive events dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, Vladimir Putin made a statement for the media where he summarised the results of work on May 7–10.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good evening, or maybe good night already. I want to greet everyone. Ladies and gentlemen. Colleagues.
Allow me to once again congratulate all of you on the Great Victory Day! Thank our friends and foreign partners who have been with us in Moscow these days at the anniversary celebrations to bow to the generation of winners.
We honour all those who contributed to the common victory over Nazism, including our allies in the anti-Hitler coalition, Chinese soldiers, participants in the anti-Fascist resistance in Europe, fighters of the people’s liberation movements in Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, and volunteers from Latin American countries.
Together with our friends and like-minded people, we share a common memory and respect for history, heroic deed of true heroes who fought for freedom, and of course, our responsibility for the future, for building a more just and safer world. The issues that directly affect the stable, sustainable development of the entire world community – Eurasia and other world regions – were at the center of the bilateral and the multilateral meetings held in Moscow.
Of course, they were held in a special, solemn, festive atmosphere, but at the same time they were extremely rich and informative, filled with topics of the political, economic and humanitarian agenda.
Summing up, and this is exactly what I would like to do now, I would say that in four days, from May 7 to May 10, we hosted official visits by the leaders of three foreign states: the People’s Republic of China, the Venezuelan Bolivarian Republic and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Additionally, 20 bilateral meetings were held with the heads of the CIS countries, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Latin America. In total, 27 heads of state from the CIS, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, as well as about 10 heads of international organizations took part in the celebrations. Another six countries were represented at a high level.
We see inspiring evidence of genuine consolidation around the enduring ideas and values of our common Great Victory in such a wide participation of delegations from foreign countries and international organisations.
We are grateful to the leaders of the 13 states who sent units of the national armed forces to participate in the parade on Red Square. Their shoulder-to-shoulder march with our ceremonial units filled the common holiday with special energy and the spirit of military brotherhood, tempered during the Second World War.
I was pleased to personally thank the military leaders of the Korean People’s Army and convey my warmest words to soldiers and commanders of special forces units of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, who, jointly with our servicemen, professionally, and I want to emphasise this, faithfully performed their assignments during the liberation of the Kursk Region border areas from the Kiev regime forces. I would like to emphasise: they showed courage and heroism, acted – I want to say this again – professionally, to the highest degree, showed good training and preparation.
And of course, it was a special honour for all state leaders to salute the main heroes of the Victory anniversary on the stands – WWII veterans from Russia, Israel, Armenia and Mongolia.
I would like to highlight that, despite threats, blackmail and obstacles caused, including the closure of airspace, the leaders of several European countries – Serbia, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina – came to Moscow. I would like to reiterate: we understand the massive pressure they faced, and therefore we sincerely appreciate their political courage, firm moral position, decision to share the holiday with us, to pay tribute to the memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, World War II, who fought for their Fatherland and for deliverance from the brown plague of the whole world, of the entire mankind without any exaggeration.
It is important for us that millions of Europeans, state leaders that pursue sovereign policies, remember this. This gives us optimism and hope that sooner or later, based on the lessons of history and the opinion of our peoples, we will begin to move towards restoring constructive relations with European states. Including those who today still do not give up the anti-Russian rhetoric and clearly aggressive actions against us. They are still trying – we can see it right these days – to talk to us, in fact, in a boorish manner and through ultimatums.
Our comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction with the People’s Republic of China can serve as a genuine example of modern equal relations in the 21st century. Chinese President Xi Jinping was the chief guest at the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory.
We have had exceptionally fruitful negotiations, we have adopted two joint statements at the level of heads of state, and we have signed a number of intergovernmental and interdepartmental agreements covering such areas as energy, trade, finance, science, culture and much more. As I have already said, it has been agreed that in September I will pay an official return visit to China for the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of victory over militaristic Japan.
It is deeply symbolic and natural that the principal, in fact the main commemorative events related to the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe and Asia will be held in Moscow and Beijing – in the capital cities of the states whose peoples passed through the hardest trials and paid the highest price for the common Victory.
Colleagues, I think it is obvious to everyone that the talks and meetings held in Moscow also touched on the issue of resolving the conflict in Ukraine. We are grateful to all our guests, our friends, for the attention they are paying to this conflict and for the efforts they are making to bring this conflict to an end. In this connection, I believe it is necessary to dwell on this topic separately.
So, I want to say that, as it is known, Russia has proposed ceasefire initiatives on several occasions, but they, these initiatives, have been repeatedly sabotaged by Ukraine. For example, the Kiev regime defiantly violated about 130 times the 30-day – I want to make it a point – 30-day moratorium, from March 18 to April 17, on strikes against energy facilities, which was declared in accordance with our agreement with US President Donald Trump.
The Easter truce initiated by Russia was not observed either: the ceasefire regime was violated by Ukrainian forces almost 5,000 times. Nevertheless, for the celebration of Victory Day – and we consider this to be a sacred holiday for us as well, just imagine that we lost 27 million people – we declared a ceasefire for the third time on this holiday, which is sacred to us.
Incidentally we conveyed to those of our colleagues in the West who, in my opinion, are sincerely looking for ways to settlement, our position on this issue, on a ceasefire on Victory Day, and that in the future we do not exclude the possibility of extending the terms of this truce – but, of course, after analysing what will happen in these several days, based on the results of how the Kiev regime will react to our proposal.
And what do we see? What are these results? The Kiev authorities, as you can see for yourself, did not respond at all to our ceasefire proposal. Moreover, after the announcement of our proposal – and this happened, as you remember, on May 5 – the Kiev authorities launched large-scale attacks in the early hours of May 7. As many as 524 unmanned aerial vehicles and a number of Western–made missiles participated in the strike, and 45 unmanned boats were used simultaneously in the Black Sea.
Actually, during these three days of the ceasefire that we announced – on May 8, 9 and 10 – happened what you also saw from the media, in fact, from your reports, it was clear: during this time, five targeted attempts were made to attack the state border of the Russian Federation in the area of the Kursk Region and at the junction with the Belgorod Region, precisely during the days of the ceasefire we announced. Additionally, another 36 attacks were made in other areas. All these attacks, including attempts to enter the territory of the Russian Federation in the Kursk Region and the Belgorod Region, were repulsed. Moreover, our military experts believe that they had no military significance, were conducted solely for political reasons and the enemy suffered very heavy losses.
As I have already said, the Kiev authorities not only declined our ceasefire proposal, but also, as we all saw, tried to intimidate the leaders of the states who gathered for the celebrations in Moscow. You know, when I met with colleagues here in Moscow, a thought occurred to me. I’ll share it with you: who were they trying to intimidate among those who came to Moscow to celebrate the Victory over Nazi Germany? Who were they trying to frighten? Those who have come to us are leaders not by position or a post, they are leaders by character, by their beliefs and willingness to stand for their beliefs. And who was trying to intimidate them? Those who stand at attention and salute, applaud former SS soldiers? And elevates those who collaborated with Hitler during WWII to the rank of national heroes? It seems to me that this is an attempt with obviously unsuitable means and those who are trying to do this do not correspond to the scale they expect themselves.
I will repeat: we have proposed steps towards a ceasefire on many occasions. We have never refused to engage in dialogue with the Ukrainian side. Let me remind you again: it was not us who interrupted the negotiations in 2022; it was the Ukrainian side. In this connection, despite everything, we propose that the authorities in Kiev should resume the negotiations that they interrupted at the end of 2022 and resume direct talks. And, I stress, without any preconditions.
We suggest starting without delay next Thursday, May 15, in Istanbul, where they were held earlier and where they were interrupted. As you know, Turkish colleagues have repeatedly offered their services to organise such talks, and President Erdogan has done a lot to organise them. I recall that as a result of these talks a joint draft document was prepared and initialed by the head of the Kiev negotiating group, but at the insistence of the West it was simply thrown into the basket.
Tomorrow we are going to have a conversation with the President of Turkiye, Mr Erdogan. I would like to ask him to provide such an opportunity to hold talks in Turkiye. I hope that he will confirm his desire to contribute to the search for peace in Ukraine.
We are set on serious negotiations with Ukraine. Their aim is to eliminate the root causes of the conflict and to achieve a long-term lasting peace for a historical perspective. We do not rule out that in the course of these negotiations it will become possible to agree on some kind of new truce and a new ceasefire. And a real ceasefire that would be observed not only by Russia but also by the Ukrainian side and would be the first step, I repeat, towards a long-term, sustainable peace, rather than a prelude to continuing armed conflict after the Ukrainian armed forces have been rearmed, re-equipped and frantically digged trenches and new strongholds. Who needs such peace?
Our proposal is, as they say, on the table. The decision is now up to Ukrainian authorities and their supervisors, who are seemingly guided by their personal political ambitions, rather than the interests of their peoples, want to continue the war against Russia at the hands of Ukrainian nationalists.
Let me reiterate myself: Russia is ready for talks without any preliminary conditions. There are combat actions and war going on now, and we propose to resume negotiations that were not interrupted by us. Well, what’s wrong about it?
Those who really want peace cannot but support this. At the same time, I would like to express my gratitude once again for the mediation services and efforts aimed at a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis undertaken by our foreign partners, including China, Brazil, African countries, the Middle East, and recently the new Administration of the United States of America.
In conclusion, I would like to once again thank everyone who shared with us the festive celebrations dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Victory over Nazism. I am sure that the spirit of solidarity and harmony that united us in Moscow these days will continue to help us build fruitful cooperation and partnership in the name of progress, security and peace.
I would also like to take this opportunity to note the tremendous role of journalists, representatives of international information agencies, TV channels, and the press who covered the anniversary events and the many-hour programme of current negotiations and working meetings. Much has been done to ensure that people in different countries of the world experience the unique atmosphere of the current holidays in Moscow. Of course, I thank you for this meeting as well, as it is held quite late and, of course, everyone is already tired.
Thank you very much for your attention, as it’s almost half past one in the morning, or even later than half past one in Moscow, God be with you.
Thank you very much for your attention. Goodbye.