Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed holding direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15, hours after Kiev and European leaders called for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire to start Monday, according to The Moscow Times.

The leaders of Ukraine, Britain, France, Germany and Poland on Saturday threatened Moscow with fresh sanctions and military support for Ukraine if Russia did not agree with the proposal, the media reported.

Putin did not explicitly address that call in his statement, delivered after 1:00 am in the Kremlin, instead outlining the counter-proposal for fresh Russia-Ukraine negotiations.

“We are proposing that Kyiv resume direct negotiations without any preconditions," Putin said from the Kremlin in the early hours of Sunday. "We offer the Kyiv authorities to resume negotiations already on Thursday, in Istanbul," he said, Reuters reported.

“Our proposal, as they say, is on the table, the decision is now up to the Ukrainian authorities and their curators, who are guided, it seems, by their personal political ambitions, and not by the interests of their peoples,” the South China Morning Post quoted Putin.

Global Times