Zelensky: I’ll be waiting to meet Putin for talks in Turkey

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Sunday, May 11, 2025, said he will be waiting to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for talks in Turkey as he called for a full ceasefire starting on Monday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier told French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that the country was ready to host negotiations to help end the war.

Zelensky said he would be ready to meet Putin for talks in Istanbul on Thursday, May 15, after United States President Donald Trump told him to agree to an offer of talks with Russia immediately.

Zelensky, in a post on X, added that Ukraine expected a full ceasefire to start on Monday in order to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy to end the war.

He stated: “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. And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses.”

Putin proposes direct talks to end Russia-Ukraine war

The United Kingdom will on Monday host European ministers for “critical” talks on “repelling Russian aggression”, two days after Ukraine’s allies demanded that Moscow accept a ceasefire.

Representatives from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the EU will join Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London for a meeting of the so-called “Weimar+” group.

The coalition was set up in February in response to shifting United States policy towards the war between Ukraine and Russia, and European security in general, under Trump.

Lammy is expected to announce further sanctions targeting those backing Russia’s invasion, his ministry said.

Three people were injured in a Ukrainian missile attack in the town of Rylsk in Russia’s Kursk region on Sunday, state news agency TASS reported, citing regional governor Alexander Khinshtein.

The missile strike hit a hotel building, Khinshtein said, adding that two wounded people with shrapnel wounds to the head were taken to hospital.

The Star