The United States and European governments have made a concerted push to stop the fighting, which has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides as well as more than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians. Russia’s invading forces have taken around one-fifth of Ukraine.
In a flurry of diplomatic developments over the weekend, Russia shunned the ceasefire proposal tabled by the U.S. and European leaders but offered direct talks with Ukraine on Thursday.
Ukraine, along with European allies, had demanded Russia accept a ceasefire starting Monday before holding peace talks. Moscow effectively rejected that proposal and instead called for direct negotiations in Istanbul.
U.S. President Donald Trump insisted Ukraine accept the Russian offer. Zelenskyy went a step further Sunday and put the pressure on Putin by offering a personal meeting between the leaders. France added its voice to that offer Monday, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot urging Putin to accept – though he repeated the European position that a truce must be in place before the talks. Russia’s failure to join the ceasefire offered by Ukraine would bring further sanctions on Moscow, European leaders say. In Kyiv, local people expressed a mixture of hope and despondency amid the latest peace efforts.
Putin doesn’t want a truce to halt the war because “it will mean that he has lost,” Antonina Metko, 43, told The Associated Press.
“That is why they are postponing it. And everything will continue in the same way. Unfortunately,” she said.
Vladyslav Nehrybetskyi, 72, was more upbeat, saying “the seeds” of a peace agreement are being sown even though “a difficult process” lies ahead. “So let’s hope,” he said.
The Ukrainian government has tried to keep up the momentum for a peace deal started by the Trump administration.
“Ukraine wants to end this war and is doing everything for this,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram Monday. “We expect appropriate steps from Russia.”
The Ukrainian leader said he told Pope Leo XIV about peace efforts during his first phone conversation with the new pontiff.
Ukraine is counting on the Vatican’s help in securing the return of thousands of children that the Kyiv government says have been deported by Russia, Zelenskyy said, adding that he had invited the pope to visit Ukraine.
In his first Sunday noon blessing as pontiff, Leo called for a genuine and just peace in Ukraine. “I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people,” he said.
In 2022, in the war’s early months, Zelenskyy repeatedly called for a personal meeting with the Russian president but was rebuffed, and eventually enacted a decree declaring that holding negotiations with Putin had become impossible.
Putin and Zelenskyy have only met once, in 2019. Trump says “deep hatred” between the sides has made it difficult to push peace efforts forward.
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Sylvie Corbet contributed from Paris.
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