Setback
for Europe after Trump insists Ukraine has ‘immediate’ peace talks with Russia
Zelenskyy
had no choice but to accept Putin’s invitation to talks, diplomats say
Patrick
Wintour Diplomatic editor
Mon 12 May
2025 14.52 BST
Donald
Trump’s social media post insisting Ukraine must immediately start peace talks
with Russia has set back, and possibly jeopardised, Europe’s carefully laid
plans to persuade the US to impose sanctions on Moscow for refusing the US
president’s proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, European diplomats have said.
Volodymyr
Zelenskyy had no choice but to accept Vladimir Putin’s invitation to talks in
Istanbul on Thursday for fear of offending Trump, diplomats said. Putin made
the offer in a bid not to alienate the US president, and avoid the growing
European pressure on Trump to impose harsher sanctions. Western diplomats say
they have no reason to believe that Trump acted in collusion with the Russian
leader.
The leaders
of Britain, France, Germany and Poland had for the first time gone together to
Kyiv at the weekend to underline the call for a 30-day ceasefire that they said
should start on Monday.
The aim of
the visit by Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and Donald Tusk was
to put pressure on Trump to admit that Putin was stalling, and that the US had
no political option but to put swingeing economic sanctions on Russia.
The
Republican senator Lindsey Graham has prepared a sanctions package that has
broad congressional support.
Foreign
ministers had also been in Lviv on Friday in a bid to put pressure on Russia,
including by saying plans existed to try Russian leaders for the crime of
aggression in front of a special tribunal. The UK had announced further
sanctions on the Russian shadow fleet.
Partly due
to Trump’s intervention, the UK has now postponed further measures due to be
announced on Monday, but the EU is continuing with its plans for another
package of sanctions later this month. A German government spokesman said on
Monday that the EU would begin working on the sanctions if there was not a
ceasefire by the end of the day.
The
gamechanger, however, would be extra US sanctions, not just because of the
economic impact, but also due to the political symbolism in Trump acknowledging
that Putin has been the chief obstacle to a settlement.
On Sunday,
Trump issued a statement on his Truth Social website blaming both Russia and
Ukraine for his ceasefire plan not coming into being. He said Ukraine should
agree to meet Russia immediately. “At least they will be able to determine
whether or not a deal is possible,” Trump wrote. “If it is not, European
leaders, and the US, will know where everything stands, and can proceed
accordingly!” Trump said he was “starting to doubt that Ukraine will make a
deal with Putin”.
European
chiefs, meeting in London on Monday, are waiting to see if Putin will himself
go to Istanbul to hold talks with Zelenskyy, a leader that he does not
recognise as legitimate.
In the
previous round of talks in Turkey in 2022, the Russia foreign minister, Sergei
Lavrov, led the Russian delegation. Putin’s attendance might be a sign that he
recognises he is under real pressure from Trump.
The Kremlin
spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, on Monday did not directly answer questions on
talks with Zelenskyy, saying instead the Kremlin was “focused on a serious
search for ways to achieve a long-term peaceful settlement”. Peskov also
criticised what he called EU “ultimatums” over Ukraine in a conference call
with reporters. “The language of ultimatums is unacceptable to Russia, it is
not appropriate. You cannot talk to Russia in such a language,” he said.
On Monday
Trump suggested Putin would attend and that he himself might take part. “You
may have a good result out of the Thursday meeting in Turkey … and I believe
the two leaders are going to be there. I was thinking about flying over. I
don’t know where I am going be on Thursday, I’ve got so many meetings … There’s
a possibility there I guess if I think things can happen.”
A key
demand, backed by Europe, will be that Putin stops prevaricating about the
30-day ceasefire.
Marco Rubio,
the US secretary of state, will also be in Turkey on Thursday for an informal
summit on overall Nato defence spending, but European ministers intend to
discuss their view that Russia’s terms for a peace deal effectively involve the
dismemberment of Ukraine.
It is likely
that some European officials will also be in Istanbul to ensure the Ukraine
negotiating team are ready for potentially pivotal talks for which there has
been comparatively little preparation.
If Putin is
seen to be delaying a ceasefire, or the talks break down in Istanbul, the aim
will be to go back to Trump and urge him to recognise Putin is not interested
in a just peace, and only Ukrainian capitulation.
European
foreign ministers meeting in London tried in public to brush off the
significance of the Trump intervention, continuing to say there can be no real
negotiations without a full ceasefire.
The new
German foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, said on Monday: “It has been clearly
articulated that, initially, there is a truce. Ukraine is ready for that.
Germany now expects Russia to agree to a ceasefire and then be prepared to
negotiate.”
The Italian
foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said: “What we are seeing from Moscow is not
promising. He’s trying to gain time and possibly occupy more Ukrainian
territories.”
Kaja Kallas,
the EU head of foreign policy, said: “To start peace talks, there must be a
ceasefire We must put pressure on Russia because it is playing a game.”
Zelenskyy’s
strategy ever since the disastrous public falling out with Trump and his
vice-president, JD Vance, in the Oval Office, has been as much as possible to
stay close to Trump’s demands, fearing that if he does not Trump will pull the
plug on US support for Ukraine, something that has not yet happened.
Maria
Zakharova said Ukraine had “misread” Putin’s statement. The Russian foreign
ministry spokesperson told state newswire Tass: “Putin said it very clearly:
negotiations about the initial reasons [for the war] first, then a conversation
about a ceasefire.” Russia’s demands include a bar on Nato membership for
Ukraine and recognition of Putin’s annexation of four south-eastern regions, as
well as an end to western military support for Kyiv.
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