US President Donald Trump said Ukraine should "immediately" agree to Vladimir Putin's offer to hold "direct" peace talks in Turkey this week, undermining European efforts to force the Russian president to agree to an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine by Monday. After Trump last week said the US will impose more sanctions on Russia if it does not agree to a truce, the leaders of France, Britain, Germany, Poland and Ukraine met in Kyiv on Saturday to send an ultimatum to Putin: agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine by Monday or face "massive" new sanctions. Trump supported the initiative, the European leaders said. But in a late-night address, Putin did not acknowledge the ultimatum. Instead, he proposed holding "direct talks" with Ukraine in Turkey on Thursday – something not seen since the early weeks of Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022. "The decision now lies with the Ukrainian authorities," Putin said. Although Ukraine and its allies stressed that there could be no further talks before a ceasefire, Trump on Sunday called on Ukraine to take part in the peace talks without a ceasefire. "Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "HAVE THE MEETING, NOW!!!" After weeks of what appeared to be thawing relations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and impatience with Moscow's prevarications on ending the war, Trump's intervention will relieve the pressure on Putin and force Kyiv into an uncomfortable position. Before Trump's comment, Zelensky had responded with trepidation to Putin's offer, calling it a "positive sign," but stressing that Kyiv first expects Moscow to agree to the new ceasefire proposal. Within hours, Ukraine's allies issued much more forceful rebuttals to Putin's offer, saying there can be no new talks before a ceasefire. Friedrich Merz, Germany's new chancellor, said talks "cannot begin until weapons fall silent." Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the world is still waiting on Russia's "univocal decision on an immediate and unconditional ceasefire." French President Emmanuel Macron said Putin's counter-offer is "not enough." Keith Kellogg, the Trump administration's special envoy to Ukraine, whose influence has dwindled since January, echoed the Europeans' claims, saying a ceasefire must come before talks, "not the other way round." But Trump abandoned his earlier demand that Russia agree to a 30-day ceasefire, instead calling on Ukraine to attend the peace talks without preconditions. "I'm starting to doubt that Ukraine will make a deal with Putin," Trump said. For months, Ukraine and its allies tried to convince the Trump administration that Putin acts in bad faith, and have said Russia's agreeing to a ceasefire could function as a test of whether it is serious about achieving the peace the US president has long demanded. But Putin's offer for direct talks – made in a rare televised address at 1 a.m. local time Sunday – was a gamble to put the ball back in Ukraine's court and distract from the fact that Russia is likely to snub Monday's ceasefire deadline, analysts said. Trump's comment suggests that gamble has worked. Zelensky will be under "huge pressure" to agree to hold talks in Turkey, Sergey Radchenko, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, told CNN. "Why? Because otherwise, he'll have to deal with Trump, who's going to say, 'Why are you undermining my peace initiative here? Why can't you just talk?'" Already setting the stage for talks, Putin spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday. The Kremlin said Erdogan "fully supported" Putin's proposal for peace talks and had offered Istanbul as a venue. Although Ankara confirmed Turkey is ready to host the negotiations, a statement from the country's presidency suggested that it agreed with Ukraine's allies that a ceasefire must come before talks. "Noting that a window of opportunity to achieve peace has opened, President Erdoğan said that a comprehensive ceasefire would create the necessary environment for peace talks," the statement read. It did not say whether Turkey would decline to host the talks if Russia refused the ceasefire offer. The White House said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Turkey from Wednesday to Friday, to attend an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers and discuss "ending the Russia-Ukraine war," meaning he will be in the country on the day of Putin's proposed peace talks. In a little over a day, the unity that was on display between Trump and the five European leaders in Kyiv seems to have dissipated. Last week, Trump had called for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine, without providing a deadline. "If the ceasefire is not respected, the US and its partners will impose further sanctions," he warned. The European leaders in Kyiv added weight to the threat by naming Monday as a deadline. Merz said the leaders had called Trump, who "supports our initiative." "Putin is very eager to make sure he retains American goodwill, because there's the parallel process of Russia-American normalization that's going on" alongside efforts to end the war in Ukraine, said Radchenko. "He knows that Trump wants direct talks," Radchenko said. "Now, by saying, 'Look, we're offering talks and the Ukrainians are the ones who are not agreeing,' he is putting the ball back in Kyiv's court." In his address, Putin said Russia does not rule out that "during these talks there will be a possibility to arrange some kind of new truce, a new ceasefire," but stressed that the talks will aim to eliminate the "root causes" of the conflict. Around the same time as Putin's late-night speech, a three-day pause in fighting ordered by Russia's leader came to an end, with Ukraine reporting more than 100 drone attacks overnight. Both sides accused each other of continuing attacks during the truce, ordered by Putin to mark Russia's World War II Victory Day. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told CNN that Russia is "very grateful" for Washington's mediation efforts, but added that "at the same time, it's quite useless to try to press on us." CNN's Andrew Carey, Nick Paton Walsh, Lucas Lilieholm and Ivana Kottasova contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com
