For the first time, Putin has proposed a peace dialogue without any conditions.

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed direct peace talks with Ukraine for the first time without any preconditions, the Kremlin said on Sunday.

Vladimir Putin said, “We are interested in starting direct peace talks with Kiev and we are not setting any preconditions. This proposal was also made to Kiev’s representatives in Istanbul last Thursday.”

Putin wants the possible dialogue between representatives of the two countries to take place in Turkey. He expressed hope that this dialogue will ultimately lead the two countries to a ceasefire. Putin also said that he would talk to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about this.

He added, “Our proposal is on the table. Now it depends on the Ukrainian government and its patrons, who are probably driven by their own political ambitions rather than the interests of the people.”

However, Kiev has not yet responded to Putin’s recent peace dialogue proposal.

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. In this war that has lasted for more than 3 years, Russian forces have occupied four Ukrainian provinces - Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson. The combined area of ​​these four provinces is one-fifth of the total land area of ​​Ukraine.

Ukraine's biggest ally in this war was the United States. Under former President Joe Biden, Washington provided Ukraine with billions of dollars in arms and financial assistance. After winning the 2024 presidential election, current US President Donald Trump said that after taking office he wanted to end the "bloodbath" of the Russia-Ukraine war and would prioritize stopping this war.