After three years of war, Russian President Vladimir Putinon Sunday proposed holding direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul next week on Thursday, May 15. His announcement comes just hours after Kyiv and European leaders called for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire to begin on Monday.

Russian PresidentVladimir Putinon Sunday proposed direct talks withUkraineon May 15 in the Turkish capitalIstanbulthat he said should be aimed at bringing a durable peace and eliminating the root causes of the war.

Putin sent thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, unleashing a war that has left hundreds of thousands of soldiers dead and triggering the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

He said Russia was proposing direct talks with Ukraine inIstanbulin an attempt to eliminate the root causes of the conflict and to achieve the restoration of a long-term, lasting peace rather than simply a pause for rearmament.

Read moreUkraine and allies set ultimatum to Russia to accept 30-day ceasefire

We are proposing that Kyiv resume direct negotiations without any preconditions, Putin said from theKremlinin the early hours of Sunday. We offer the Kyiv authorities to resume negotiations already on Thursday, in Istanbul.

Despite public and private pressure from US PresidentDonald Trumpand repeated warnings from European powers, Putin has offered few concessions towards ending the conflict.

French PresidentEmmanuel Macronsaid Sunday that Putin's proposal is"a first step, but not enough".

"An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations," Macron told reporters as he stepped off a train in the Polish city of Przemysl on his return from a trip to Ukraine, adding that Putin was "looking for a way out, but he still wants to buy time".

Putin said that he would speak to Turkish PresidentTayyip Erdoganlater on Sunday about facilitating the talks, which he said could lead to aceasefire.

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.

PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskys office and Ukraines foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment on the proposal.

No ceasefire?

Putins proposal for direct talks with Ukraine came hours after major European powers demanded on Saturday in Kyiv that Putin agree to anunconditional 30-day ceasefireor face massive new sanctions.

Putin dismissed what he said was the attempt by some European powers to lay down ultimatums.

Russia, Putin said, had proposed several ceasefires, including a moratorium on striking energy facilities, anEaster ceasefireand most recently the 72-hour truce during the celebrations marking 80 years since victory inWorld War II.

Both Russia and Ukraineaccused each otherof violating the temporary truce proposals, including the May 8-10 ceasefire.

On Sunday, Russia launched a drone attack on Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Putin said that he does not rule out that during his proposed talks inTurkeyboth sides will agree on some new truces, a new ceasefire, but one that would be the first step towards a sustainable peace.

Peace?

Putin, whose forces have advanced over the past year, has stood firm in his conditions for ending the war.

In June 2024, he said that Ukraine must officially drop itsNATOambitions and withdraw its troops from the entirety of the territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed by Russia.

Russian officials have also proposed that the US recognise Russias control over about one fifth of Ukraine and demanded that Ukraine remains neutral thoughMoscowhas said it is not opposed to Kyivs ambitions to join theEuropean Union.

Read morePutin will think through Ukraine ceasefire proposal

Putin specifically mentioned the 2022 draft deal which Russia and Ukraine negotiated shortly after the Russian invasion of February 2022.

Under that draft, a copy of which Reuters has seen, Ukraine should agree to permanent neutrality in return for international security guarantees from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: Britain,China, France, Russia and the United States.

It was not Russia that broke off negotiations in 2022. It was Kyiv, Putin said. Russia is ready to negotiate without any preconditions.

He thanked China, Brazil, African and Middle Eastern countries and the United States for their efforts to mediate.

Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly said he wants to end the bloodbath of the Ukraine war which his administration casts as a proxy war between the United States and Russia.

Former US PresidentJoe Biden, Western European leaders and Ukraine cast the invasion as an imperial-style land grab and repeatedly vowed to defeat Russian forces.

Putin casts the war as a watershed moment in Moscows relations with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after theSoviet Unionfell in 1991 by enlarging NATO and encroaching on what he considers Moscows sphere of influence, including Ukraine.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AFP)

Originally published on France24