Zelensky announces May 15 Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul

Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Kyiv would meet with Moscow for talks in Istanbul on May 15, but that Russia must first commit to a 30-day ceasefire starting from Monday.

Zelensky, using rare language since Moscow invaded more than three years ago, described Russia’s proposal to convene direct peace talks as a “positive sign”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was “ready to host negotiations,” telling Russia’s Vladimir Putin in a phone call that a “window of opportunity” had opened for peace.

Moscow and Kyiv have not held direct talks since March 2022, shortly after the Kremlin launched its invasion in February of that year.

Those talks, which also took place in Istanbul, led to a now-aborted peace deal that would have seen Kyiv adopt a neutral status and renounce any NATO ambitions.

Russia’s invasion has since dragged on, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of people, the destruction of Ukrainian cities, and a total collapse in relations between Moscow and the West.

Moscow now occupies a fifth of the country and has claimed to have annexed four Ukrainian regions as its own, in addition to Crimea, which it seized in 2014. Punch