European leaders intensified on Russia to accept a high unconditional fire in Ukraine, threatening to immediately impose a new round of punishing sanctions if the Kremlin did not change its position at the end of Monday.
“The clock is marking: we still have 12 hours until the end of this day,” said German government spokesman Stefan Kornelius, a press conference.
The ultimatum was the last turn in an increasingly frantic round of Brinkmanship Diplomatic as the Trump administration frustrates due to the lack of progress in its efforts to put an end to the bloodiest conflict in Europe in generations.
On Monday, Kremlin spokesman brushed the threat.
“The language of the ultimatums is unacceptable: you can’t talk to Russia like this,” said spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, to Russian news agencies.
President Vladimir V. Putin de Russia has so far rejected an unconditional truce of 30 days that the United States first proposed in early March and immediately accepted by Ukraine.
On the other hand, Mr. Putin called this weekend for the resumption of direct negotiations with Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zensky or Ukraine responded by challenging the Russian leader to meet him in person.
“I’ll be in Türkiye this Thursday, May 15, and I hope Putin also comes to Türkiye. Personally,” Zensky said Sunday. “And I hope this time, Putin will win, apologize about why” he can’t “do it.”
Collecting that thread, President Trump told the White House journalists on Monday: “No Thorsday underestimes in Türkiye.” His travel schedule makes him visit the Middle East that day, and suggested that he could alter his plans to go to Türkiye, depending on the expected conversations.
Responding to Mr. Trump’s comments, Mr. Zensky said in X: “All in Ukraine we would appreciate if President Trump could be there with us at this meeting in Türkiye. This is the right idea.”
Mr. Peskov did not comment on Mr. Zensky’s gambit.
Andriy Yermak, chief of Cabinet of Mr. Zelensky, told the Ukrainian media RBC-UKRAINE that Kyiv had aggression in Kremlin’s storage tactics. The sacrifice to meet with the Russian president, he said, was intended to make it clear that “the ball is in the Moscow court.”
“Let’s give Russia a reason to accuse us of sabotling the peace process,” added Mr. Yermak.
Ukraine, along with his European allies, continued to insist on Monday that the fight should stop before serious negotiations could begin.
President Emmanuel Macron de France said that kyiv had shown himself again and again to make concessions to begin the hard work of negotiating a landing peace.
“Or Russia, Mr. Putin, is serious and wants peace, or is not serious and we have to impose even more sanctions,” he told reporters.
Great Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy told reporters in London that it was time for Russia to stop stopping. “This is the time for Vladimir Putin to take peace seriously in Europe, take the fire seriously and take the conversations seriously,” he said.
When the leaders of France, Germany, Great Britain and Poland traveled to kyiv over the weekend to deliver that same message, they were careful to coordinate their efforts with the White House. They made only accepting a high unconditional fire would save additional sanctions from Moscow aimed at oil and bank exports, and said that the United States would also impose sanctions to Russia if Putin did not agree with a truce.
However, after Mr. Putin made an opposite sacrifice or direct conversations without mentioning the fire, President Trump urged the Ukrainians to take the meeting.
“Ukraine should agree with this, immediately,” Trump wrote on Sunday in a statement on social networks.
Mr. Zensky responded quickly, apparently seeking to turn the script of the Russian leader saying that he used to negotiate in any format and that he would travel to Türkiye to meet with Mr. Putin, personally.
Nataliya Vasilyeva” Christopher F. Schuetze” Aurelien Breeden and Stephen Castle Contributed reports.
