Kovalenko highlighted that the Kremlin leader "appears delusional" for continuing to attack Ukraine with weapons like Shahed drones, despite Russia’s repeated failures to achieve its primary objective of destroying Ukraine either militarily or politically.

It was a proposal that the Kremlin could neither outright reject nor accept, intended to force it into an awkward choice, revealing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s true appetite for his brutal war of choice.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin must respond to the ceasefire proposal in Ukraine by the end of the day, The Guardian reports. According to German government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius, "the clock is ticking" for Russia.

PARIS (Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he was in favour of imposing new sanctions on Russia in coming days if Moscow failed to agree to a ceasefire, mentioning financial services and oil and gas as possible targets.

President Vladimir Putin said, according to a translation by the BBC: "We are determined to have serious negotiations with Ukraine. The purpose is to eliminate the root causes of the conflict and establish long-term, lasting peace with a historical perspective.

Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv that he will be in Ankara on Thursday to conduct the negotiations. He plans to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the two will wait for Putin to arrive, he said. Zelenskyy said that if Putin chooses Istanbul to hold the meeting, then both leaders will travel there.

Volodymyr Zelensky vowed that he would be waiting in Istanbul for Putin and Donald Trump said he would potentially fly out if the Russian President decided to attend. Emmanuel Macron, Sir Keir Starmer,

Major European powers threw their weight behind an unconditional 30-day Ukraine ceasefire on Saturday, with the backing of U.S. President Donald Trump, and threatened President Vladimir Putin with "massive" new sanctions if he did not accept within days.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy supports the idea of US President Donald Trump taking part in possible negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul, according to the Ukrainian head of state on Telegram.