After request for ceasefire, Putin proposes a meeting with Ukraine on May 15

“We propose to the Kiev authorities to resume the conversations that were interrupted in 2022 and, I emphasize, without any prior condition,” he said.

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators had direct dialogues in Istanbul in the first weeks of the conflict, but failed to stop fighting.

“We propose to start them without delay on Thursday, May 15, in Istanbul,” Putin said, who said he would contact his Turkish pair, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to help with the organization.

“We do not exclude that during these conversations we can reach some new kind of ceasefire,” added the Russian President, who, without mentioning the proposal, criticized the “Ultimatos” and the “European” anti-rhetoric “.

“We are determined to perform serious negotiations (…) to eliminate the roots of conflict and establish a lasting peace,” he insisted.

Russian references to the “roots of conflict” in Ukraine usually involve a wide range of complaints against Kiev and the West, which they often use to justify the launch of the offensive in February 2022.