Zelensky offers to meet Putin after Trump demands Ukraine hold direct talks with Russia ｜ BBC News

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00:00In the last hour, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has said he's prepared to meet Russia's

00:05Vladimir Putin for talks in Istanbul on Thursday, after President Trump appeared to hit out at

00:11Ukraine and urged Mr Zelensky to agree to talk with Russia immediately. In a post on X, the

00:17Ukrainian president also said that he expected a full ceasefire to start on Monday in order to

00:22provide the necessary basis for diplomacy to end the war. And I will be waiting for Putin in Turkey

00:29on Thursday, personally, he added. Earlier in a post on his Truth Social platform, President Trump

00:35said President Putin of Russia doesn't want to have a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine,

00:40but rather wants to meet on Thursday in Turkey to negotiate a possible end to the bloodbath.

00:46Ukraine should agree to this immediately. He went on to say at least they will be able to determine

00:51whether or not a deal is possible. Vladimir Putin offered direct talks in Istanbul in a TV address

00:57in the early hours of Saturday morning. We'll be live in Washington shortly, but first with me is

01:03our World Affairs correspondent, Joe Inwood. Do we think Thursday will actually happen in some form?

01:10Oh, that is a very, very good question. We know from the Russians that they've offered these talks.

01:16They say that someone will be there. President Trump then says, as you were just mentioning,

01:21the talk should happen. And within really within minutes, we were speaking an hour ago,

01:25and between now and then, President Zelensky has come out on social media and said,

01:28I'll be there personally. And this is the really interesting thing here. President Putin never

01:32said he was going to be taking part in these talks. And previously, talks have happened at a lower level.

01:37I think it was Sergei Lavrov that took part in the last ones, which were in Istanbul in 2022,

01:43so more than three years ago. President Zelensky said, I'll be there personally. I'll see you there,

01:48Putin. Which obviously, that wasn't part of the agreement. He then says,

01:52I hope the Russians don't look for excuses. So we've got this kind of, not to say game,

01:57but this kind of battle between the two men of what they're offering to do to try and paint

02:02themselves, it seems, in the eyes of Donald Trump, because that really is one of the key things in

02:06this, as the person who is happy to look for peace. If we saw Zelensky opposite Putin across the

02:12table, it'd be a big moment, wouldn't it? It would be extraordinary. What would they talk about?

02:16Because, you know, all the indications are they're still so far apart. Yeah, I mean, if that were to

02:22happen, and I really, I would not expect, I won't be waiting to see the two men across each other from

02:27a table on Thursday. If it does, fair enough, but I would be astonished if it does. In terms of the

02:34talks, as you say, they've both got these red lines that seem absolutely miles apart. President Putin

02:39has always talked about trying to end what he calls the root causes of this war. Now, if you think about

02:44what he's talking about, really, it's political independence, the sovereignty of Ukraine.

02:49He wants to go back to a time when Ukraine was under the Russian umbrella, the USSR umbrella.

02:55He wants to have a compliant government in Kiev. He also, at the very least, wants to take over a

03:02large amount of Ukrainian territory, not just the bits they've already captured since 2014, since 22,

03:07but actually a bit more they've originally asked for. All of those are hugely unacceptable to Ukraine.

03:12For the Ukrainian perspective, they want their territory back. They want, I mean, they've talked

03:16before about war reparations. They've even talked about getting all of the kind of the Crimean

03:22peninsula back and the territory they lost in 2014. So completely polar opposites in terms of what they

03:28want. And whether any negotiators can find a way to find middle ground, I mean, it will be the most

03:35difficult of international negotiations. All right, Jay, thank you. We will await Thursday with interest.

03:40Well, we can cross live now to Washington to speak to our North America correspondent,

03:45Jake Kwan. Jake, you've been hearing the developments in the last hour with this and

03:50Zelensky's response. What do you think Donald Trump will make of this then? Because he was urging them

03:56to get to the table, wasn't he? He's prepared to call out both sides at different times.

04:01Certainly. He, you know, if you look at his post that you were just showing earlier, he is,

04:05you know, it's usually riddled with the all caps. The message is very clear. The meeting must happen

04:10now. And he wasn't only pressuring Zelensky to have the meeting. He was going after both

04:16Zelensky and Putin, saying that, you know, it seems that maybe Zelensky is not willing to do it.

04:22Putin also seems distracted by his VE parade, but that they must meet. And both leaders,

04:28it really benefits them to look like they're not standing in the way of the peace deal that Mr.

04:35Trump desperately wants. And Mr. Trump, you can read from that, that his patience seems to be

04:40running thin. And there's this one part in the post saying that if not, Europeans and U.S. will know

04:46where everything stands and can proceed accordingly. He is bringing a little bit of that godfather-like

04:53energy, kind of a thinly veiled threat that he could turn the screws on. He could bring extra pain if

05:01these people do not play the way he likes. You know, I think one theory from analysts is that

05:07Putin has thrown out the possibility of these peace talks on Thursday because he's playing for time,

05:11but actually intends to continue the war, to continue his military actions. And the suggestions

05:17are that Donald Trump gets played by Putin. What do you think the White House make of that?

05:21Certainly, that is a fear that White House has and the doubt that White House does share with

05:28Kyiv somewhat. And he was saying earlier that perhaps Putin is simply tapping him along,

05:34playing him for a fool. But Mr. Putin, Mr. Trump is really going for the prize here. He just won this

05:42great prize of victory in India and Pakistan issue. He could point that as his first kind of win,

05:49and he wants a second one. He really wants to wrap this up. And if Mr. Putin does not play by

05:54Mr. Trump's rules, he could really bring in these other threats that he has mentioned earlier,

06:00like more sanction on the banking system and the really painful secondary sanctions that he mentioned

06:06earlier, where the U.S. could put sanctions on any countries, any companies that does deal with Putin,

06:12which Moscow surely would love to avoid.

06:16Jake Kwan, thank you. Let's speak now to Sergei Goriashko from the BBC's Russian service,

06:22who is in Riga. Sergei, thank you for joining us. We heard President Putin's announcement made in a

06:292 a.m. press conference in Russia, didn't we, in the early hours of this morning. What do you think

06:34we can understand about his intentions?

06:36Well, he had to respond somehow to the proposition of a 30-day ceasefire, and he did, ultimately,

06:43rejecting this idea. And he had to come up with some sort of a counter-proposition, some sort of

06:50another measure, which is why he asked about those negotiations in Istanbul and said that Russia is

06:57ready to negotiate with Ukraine without any conditions and just to take it from there.

07:03It was not the first time when Vladimir Putin has told that he is ready to direct negotiation with

07:10Kiev. But actually, before, he always added something like Vladimir Zelensky has already

07:16banned himself from the negotiations, which is why these negotiations are not possible. This time,

07:21he didn't mention these facts. And this time, he said that Russia is ready to negotiate in good

07:27faith. And, but of course, ultimately, the positions of Moscow and Kiev are somehow very

07:34different now. And they, in other interest, in fact, that just minutes after Putin has concluded

07:40his speech, the first drones since that ceasefire announced by Russia during the victory day,

07:47the first drones hit Ukrainian soil. There were a swarm of hundreds of them sent from Russia to

07:52Ukraine. Do you get any sense of people's reactions within Russia to Putin's latest

07:59offer of peace talks? What kind of response does it get from the public there?

08:04Doesn't seem much response at the time, but of course, everyone is, you know, it's a nail-biting

08:10week. Well, everyone will be watching who will go to Istanbul, who will represent Russia at the time,

08:17and which conditions Russia would have at those negotiations. Vladimir Putin mentioned

08:22the earlier Istanbul talks back in 2022. But since then, the situation has changed dramatically. Well,

08:30for once, Russia has annexed the parts of four Ukrainian regions. And during Istanbul talks in 2022,

08:37that was not the case at the time. And that was the idea that the fate of Donbass and Crimea

08:43will be discussed by presidents directly. And the status of the Crimea will be somehow not discussed

08:50during the next two decades. Now, the situation and Russian position has changed. And, well,

08:58they will definitely add something up about that in their starting positions.

09:02Okay, Sergei, thank you for your thoughts on that.

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