As Ukrainian and Russian delegations are expected to meet in Istanbul for potential ceasefire negotiations, Russian President Vladimir Putin has extended the country's current defense strategy through 2027,

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is prepared to meet Vladimir Putin this week, shortly after US President Donald Trump urged him to “immediately” accept the Russian leader’s offer to hold peace talks in Turkey.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin is not ready for direct negotiations with Ukraine. His claims of being open to dialogue are just empty talk, stated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a press conference.

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.

Kyiv accused Moscow of breaching its own ceasefire on Thursday, saying Russian forces struck hundreds of times along the front lines and launched guided bombs that killed and wounded civilians in several Ukrainian cities.

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.

Moscow’s massacres of Ukrainian civilians blew apart any semblance of good faith as Washington pushed for talks

U.S. and European officials persuaded President Volodymyr Zelensky to represent Ukraine at upcoming peace talks in Istanbul despite Russia's evasiveness about who it would send, the Washington Post (WP) reported on May 14,