Putin offers direct peace talks with Ukraine after 3 years of war

'Negotiations without preconditions' could be held on Thursday in Istanbul, president says

20250511 Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a statement to the media at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 11. (Photo by Sergey Bobylev/Host agency RIA Novosti via Reuters)

MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed direct talks with Ukraine on May 15 in Istanbul that he said should be aimed at bringing a durable peace and eliminating the root causes of the war.

Putin sent thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, unleashing a war that has left hundreds of thousands of soldiers dead and triggering the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

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