Ukraine war latest: Zelensky will ‘only’ attend peace talks if Putin does

The European Union is ready to impose tighter sanctions on Russia if progress on ending the war in Ukraine is not made this week, German chancellor Friedrich Merz has said.

Warning that a new package of sanctions has been prepared, Mr Merz told reporters: “We are waiting for Putin’s agreement and we agree that if there is no real progress this week, we want to work together at European level for a significant tightening of sanctions.

“We will be looking at other areas, such as the energy sector and also the financial market.”

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has warned that she does not believe Russia is truly interested in establishing peace in Ukraine.

“I don’t think they are interested in peace. They are still bombing Ukraine. If they were interested in peace, they could stop right now,” Ms Kallas told reporters at a democracy summit in Copenhagen.

“Russia is clearly playing games, trying to buy time,” she said.

The Kremlin has declined to comment on whether Vladimir Putin will travel to Turkey to attend peace talks with Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.

Mr Putin proposed on Sunday that direct talks with Ukraine should take place, and – after US president Donald Trump publicly told Mr Zelensky to accept, the Ukrainian president said that he would go but that Mr Putin should attend in person too.

“The Russian side continues to prepare for the negotiations,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the talks and Mr Zelensky’s demand that Mr Putin attend.

“We are not going to comment any more yet.”

When asked directly who would represent Russia at the talks, Mr Peskov said: “As soon as the president sees fit, we will announce it.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky will only attend talks on Ukraine if Russia’s Vladimir Putin is also there, the Ukrainian leader’s top aide said today, challenging the Kremlin to show it is genuine about seeking peace.

“President Zelensky will not meet with any other Russian representative in Istanbul, except Putin,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters today.

His chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Mr Zelensky’s trip to Turkey showed Kyiv was ready for talks but repeated Ukraine’s stance that any negotiations must come after a ceasefire.

“Our position is very principled and very strong,” Mr Yermak said during a visit to Copenhagen.

Moscow has not said if the Russian leader will travel to Turkey and settle the war with Ukraine.

Donald Trump, who is due to visit Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar this week, has also unexpectedly offered to travel to Istanbul, to mediate the peace talks with Ukrainian and Russian representatives.

Vladimir Putin’s 2am press conference on Sunday was not just theatre, it was his latest salvo in the psychological battle to shape global perceptions of who is truly to blame for Russia’s war with Ukraine.

That was a big concession to the invader, but it was accompanied by a demand that Putin agree to a 30-day ceasefire – also demanded by the four European leaders whom Zelensky had just met.

By declaring that he would be waiting for him in Istanbul, and daring Putin to meet him face to face for the first time since 2019, Zelensky was throwing down a challenge. It could yet blow up in either leader’s face.

While the Kremlin has effectively rejected an unconditional 30-day ceasefire proposed by the European nations, it has reiterated it would take part in possible peace talks later this week without preconditions.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky threw down the gauntlet to his Russian counterpart and said he is willing to meet Vladimir Putin in Turkey “personally” to settle the war.

In the past 24 hours, there has been no direct response from the Kremlin to the invitation made by Mr Zelensky for a face-to-face meeting.

But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov refused to say who might travel to Istanbul from the Russian side.

“Overall, we’re determined to seriously look for ways to achieve a long-term peaceful settlement. That is all,” Mr Peskov said.

If Mr Zelensky and Mr Putin, who make no secret of their contempt for each other, were to meet on Thursday it would be their first face-to-face meeting since December 2019.

Russia will announce who is attending the proposed peace talks in Turkey when president Vladimir Putin sees fit to, the Kremlin said on this morning.

It declined to comment on questions about whether or not Mr Putin would attend himself.

The Russian leader on Sunday proposed direct talks with Ukraine aimed at ending the war, and, after US president Donald Trump publicly told Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to accept, Mr Zelensky said he would but that Mr Putin should attend in person.

The West must increase its sanctions on Russia as well as its military support to Ukraine after Russia did not agree to an immediate ceasefire on Monday, German defence minister Boris Pistorius said today.

“There needs to be further steps as regards sanctions as well as additional support for Ukraine since (Russian president Vladimir) Putin, as was to be expected, is behaving as usual in such a situation,” Mr Pistorius told reporters in Berlin.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has also announced that he will be in Istanbul for the talks, due to start on Thursday, and has called for Russian leader Vladimir Putin to meet him there.

The person who has been most vocal about his attendance is Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. He wrote on social media earlier this week that he supports Mr Trump’s calls for direct talks with Mr Putin.

The claims centre on a video in which French president Emmanuel Macron picks up a white tissue from a table and German chancellor Friedrich Merz retrieves a coffee stirrer. Sir Keir is seen smiling on the opposite side of the table.

The Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote a lengthy diatribe on social media site Telegram over the weekend in which she claimed the video was evidence that the trio had spent the train journey doing cocaine and had forgotten to remove the drug paraphernalia. She claimed the tissue was a bag of cocaine and the stirrer was a spoon used to consume the drugs.