{"id":96636,"date":"2025-05-13T00:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T00:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/96636\/"},"modified":"2025-05-13T00:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T00:09:10","slug":"russian-drones-attack-ukraine-after-kremlin-turns-down-a-ceasefire-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/96636\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian drones attack Ukraine after Kremlin turns down a ceasefire proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 Russia launched more than 100 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine in nighttime attacks, the Ukrainian air force said Monday, after the Kremlin effectively rejected an unconditional 30-day ceasefire<\/a> in the more than three-year war<\/a>, but reiterated it would take part in possible peace talks later this week without preconditions.<\/p>\n

There was no direct response from the Kremlin, meanwhile, to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u2019s challenge<\/a> for Russian leader Vladimir Putin to meet him for face-to-face peace talks in Turkey on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday refused to say who might travel to Istanbul from the Russian side.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, we\u2019re determined to seriously look for ways to achieve a long-term peaceful settlement. That is all,\u201d Peskov said.<\/p>\n

The United States and European governments are making a concerted push to stop the fighting, which has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides, as well as more than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians. Russia\u2019s invading forces have taken around one-fifth of Ukraine in Europe\u2019s biggest conflict since World War II.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that he\u2019s optimistic about the Istanbul talks. There is \u201cthe potential for a good meeting\u201d between Putin and Zelenskyy, Trump said in Washington, adding that he was \u201cthinking about flying over\u201d to the talks from his visit to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates that day.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy supported the prospect of Trump attending the negotiations. \u201cI supported President Trump with the idea of direct talks with Putin. I have openly expressed my readiness to meet,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd of course, all of us in Ukraine would appreciate it if President Trump could be there with us at this meeting in Turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a flurry of diplomatic developments over the weekend, Russia shunned the ceasefire proposal tabled by the U.S. and European leaders, but offered direct talks<\/a> with Ukraine on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Ukraine, along with European allies, had demanded that Russia accept a ceasefire starting Monday before holding peace talks. Moscow effectively rejected that proposal and instead called for direct negotiations in Istanbul.<\/p>\n

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday he had discussed Russian-Ukrainian peace efforts in separate calls with Zelenskyy, Putin and Trump.<\/p>\n

Erdogan said \u201ca new window of opportunity has emerged for peace,\u201d and claimed that previous talks hosted by Turkey in 2022 came close to success but were derailed by \u201cwar barons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe support my dear friend Trump\u2019s determination to resolve active conflicts through dialogue and diplomacy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

West increases pressure on Putin <\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump insisted that Ukraine accept the Russian offer of talks. Zelenskyy went a step further Sunday and put pressure on Putin by offering a personal meeting.<\/p>\n

France added its voice to that offer Monday, with Foreign Minister Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot urging Putin to accept \u2014 though Barrot repeated the European position that a truce must be in place before the talks.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s failure to join the ceasefire offered by Ukraine would bring further sanctions on Moscow, European leaders say. Germany on Monday reminded Russia of that intention.<\/p>\n

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, said the pressure on Russia was increasing.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody wants peace now. Ukraine wants peace, Europe wants peace, the US wants peace,\u2019’ he told The Associated Press during an interview in London. \u201cNow Russia needs to make up their mind whether they also want peace or not, an unconditional ceasefire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said that giving ultimatums to Russia was \u201cunacceptable\u201d and wouldn\u2019t work. \u201cYou cannot talk to Russia in this language,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

Also on Monday, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy was hosting in London senior diplomatic officials from France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland and the European Union to discuss how best to fight back against Russian aggression.<\/p>\n

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said he expected the two sides to reach a compromise in the coming days that might break the deadlock over whether talks could begin without a truce in place.<\/p>\n

Russian and Ukrainian officials are mindful of public opinion in their countries and are trying to secure the support of the United States for their stances, he said in explaining the delay.<\/p>\n

Ukrainians react to peace prospects <\/p>\n

In Kyiv, residents expressed a mixture of hope and despondency at the latest peace efforts.<\/p>\n

Putin doesn\u2019t want a truce to halt the war, because \u201cit will mean that he has lost,\u201d Antonina Metko, 43, told The Associated Press. \u201cThat is why they are postponing it. And everything will continue in the same way. Unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vladyslav Nehrybetskyi, 72, was more upbeat, saying that \u201cthe seeds\u201d of a peace agreement are being sown, even though \u201ca difficult process\u201d lies ahead. \u201cSo let\u2019s hope.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s government has tried to keep up the momentum for a peace deal started by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cUkraine wants to end this war and is doing everything for this,\u201d Zelenskyy said on Telegram Monday. \u201cWe expect appropriate steps from Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian leader said that he told Pope Leo XIV about peace efforts during his first phone conversation with the new pontiff.<\/p>\n

Ukraine is counting on the Vatican\u2019s help in securing the return of thousands of children that the government says have been deported by Russia, Zelenskyy said, adding that he had invited the pope to visit Ukraine.<\/p>\n

In his first Sunday noon blessing<\/a> as pontiff, Leo called for a genuine and just peace in Ukraine. <\/p>\n

\u201cI carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In 2022, in the war\u2019s early months, Zelenskyy repeatedly called for a personal meeting with Putin but was rebuffed, and eventually enacted a decree declaring that holding negotiations with him had become impossible.<\/p>\n

Putin and Zelenskyy have only met once, in 2019. Trump says that \u201cdeep hatred\u201d between the sides has made it difficult to push peace efforts forward.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Danica Kirka in London, Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, and Geir Moulson in Berlin, contributed.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 Russia launched more than 100 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine in nighttime attacks,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[45138,6217,7667,32,2000,299,4179,45136,2199,807,257,285,41442,8536,332,7659,7661,45137,657,7662,41982,11654,5213,333,2601,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-96636","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-antonina-metko","9":"tag-david-lammy","10":"tag-dmitry-peskov","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-hakan-fidan","16":"tag-italy","17":"tag-keir-starmer","18":"tag-london","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-pope-leo-xiv","21":"tag-recep-tayyip-erdogan","22":"tag-russia","23":"tag-russia-government","24":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","25":"tag-sweden-government","26":"tag-ukraine","27":"tag-ukraine-government","28":"tag-ulf-kristersson","29":"tag-united-kingdom-government","30":"tag-united-states-government","31":"tag-vladimir-putin","32":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","33":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114497622317541206","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}