Trump's surprise offer to join the talks on Thursday in Istanbul came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a fresh twist to the stop-start peace talks process, said he would travel to Turkey and wait to meet President Vladimir Putin there. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and his German and Polish counterparts were also on the call, according to the readout. There has been no response from the Kremlin to Zelenskiy's offer to meet Putin in Istanbul and Moscow was yet to comment on Trump's offer to join the talks. "Don't underestimate Thursday in Turkey," Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. Putin called the Western European and Ukrainian demands for a ceasefire "ultimatums" that the Kremlin said on Monday are for Russia an unacceptable language.

Source: bd News24 May 13, 2025 03:34 UTC