内容摘要：Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined for the second straight day Tuesday to tell reporters whether Putin will travel to Istanbul and who else will represent Russia at the potential talks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined for the second straight day Tuesday to tell reporters whether Putin will travel to Istanbul and who else will represent Russia at the potential talks.

on the next steps in the U.S.-led peace effort.Zelenskyy said that he still hopes for a ceasefire with Russia starting Monday, and that he will “be waiting for Putin” in Turkey “personally” after U.S. President Donald Trump insisted Ukraine accept Russia’s latest offer — to hold direct talks in Turkey on Thursday. Ukraine, along with European allies, had demanded Russia accept an unconditional 30-day

starting Monday before holding talks, but Moscow effectively rejected the proposal and called for direct negotiations instead.It was not clear if Zelenskyy was conditioning his presence in Turkey on the Monday ceasefire holding, and there was no immediate comment from the Kremlin on whether Putin would go. In 2022, 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.“We await a full and lasting ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy. There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will be waiting for Putin in (Turkey) on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses,” Zelenskyy wrote on X on Sunday.

Trump said in a social media post earlier Sunday that Ukraine should agree to Putin’s peace talks proposal “IMMEDIATELY.”“At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible, and if it is not, European leaders, and the U.S., will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly!” Trump wrote, adding: “HAVE THE MEETING, NOW!!!”

French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk met with Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Saturday and issued a coordinated call for a 30-day truce starting Monday. The plan has received backing from both the European Union and Trump.

The leaders pledged tougher sanctions on Russia if Putin did not accept the proposal.“We have enough strength and means to bring what was started in 2022 to a logical conclusion with the outcome Russia requires,” he said.

a revamped version of Russia’sin November 2024, spelling out the circumstances that allow him to use Moscow’s atomic arsenal, the world’s largest. That version lowered the bar, giving him that option in response to even a conventional attack backed by a nuclear power.

In the film, Putin also said Russia did not launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine — what he called a “special military operation” — in 2014, when it illegally annexed Crimea, because it was “practically unrealistic.”“The country was not ready for such a frontal confrontation with the entire collective West,” he said. He claimed also that Russia “sincerely sought to solve the problem of Donbas by peaceful means.”