Ukraine war: Trump envoy says ‘ceasefire first, talks later’ after Putin’s peace talk proposal – as it happened

Russian president Vladimir Putin makes a late-night statement to the media at the Kremlin in Moscow. Photograph: Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik/Kremlin pool/EPA

3.57pm BST

Closing summary

• Russian president Vladimir Putin proposed direct talks with Ukraine on 15 May in Istanbul to achieve what he claims could be “the restoration of a long-term, lasting peace” if certain conditions are met. Putin said he wants to address what he calls “the root causes of the conflict”.

• In response, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s consideration of ending the war is a “positive sign” and that Ukraine is open to direct talks with Russia later this week, but only if Moscow signs up to an unconditional ceasefire first.

• European leaders from the UK, France, Germany and Poland demanded on Saturday in Kyiv that Putin agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting tomorrow or face “massive” new sanctions. Putin has dismissed what he said was the attempt by some European powers to lay down “ultimatums”.

• France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, responded to Putin’s proposal for direct talks by saying there can be no proper negotiations while “civilians are being bombed”. German chancellor Friedrich Merz said Russia’s offer to negotiate directly with Ukraine is “a good sign” but “far from sufficient”. Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Gen Keith Kellogg, backed the 30 day unconditional ceasefire and said Putin should too.

• Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he was “ready to host negotiations” in Istanbul on Thursday, telling Putin in a phone call that a “window of opportunity” had opened for peace.

• Moscow and Kyiv have not held direct talks since March 2022, shortly after the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion in February of that year.

• Despite Putin’s call for so-called peace talks, Russia on Sunday launched a drone attack on Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, according to officials.

Thanks for following along today. We are now closing this blog. You can read all our Ukraine coverage here.

Updated at 4.09pm BST

3.36pm BST

Ukrainian troops have carried out over 100 attacks on the western Russian region of Belgorod over the past day, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has said. We have not been able to independently verify this information.

Updated at 3.40pm BST