Star Metro - Drones hit Ukraine as Zelensky awaits Putin reply on talks

Ukraine and its allies urged Moscow to agree to a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting Monday, but Putin came back with a counter-proposal for direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul on Thursday.

The Kremlin is yet to respond to Zelensky's apparent acceptance of the offer, with the Ukrainian leader upping the stakes by saying he would be "waiting for Putin in Turkey on Thursday. Personally."

The prospect of direct Russia-Ukraine talks on ending the war -- the first since the early months of Russia's 2022 invasion -- has been welcomed by Washington and across Europe.

But Moscow appeared to have rejected the call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire -- that Zelensky had earlier on Sunday presented as a precondition to the Istanbul talks -- with a wave of fresh drone attacks.

"From 11:00 pm on May 11, the enemy attacked with 108 Shaheds and other types of drones," the Ukraine air force said, adding that "as of 08:30 am, 55 drones were confirmed downed."

Overnight attacks in the east killed one person and wounded six, damaging railways infrastructure and residential buildings, local officials said.

"Ceasefire proposals are being ignored, and the enemy continues attacks on railway infrastructure," Ukrainian national railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia said.

US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to stop trying to mediate a peace deal if he does not see compromises from both sides, has called for them to sit down immediately.

"President Putin of Russia doesn't want to have a Cease Fire Agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday, in Turkey, to negotiate a possible end to the BLOODBATH," Trump wrote on his Truth Social network on Sunday.

"Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY," he added.

- 'Root causes' -

Tens of thousands have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes since Russia invaded in February 2022.

Russia's army controls around one-fifth of the country, including the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014.

Putin said any direct talks with Ukraine should focus on the "root causes" of the conflict, and said he did not "exclude" a possible ceasefire coming out of any talks in Istanbul.

Russia's references to the "root causes" of the conflict typically refer to alleged grievances with Kyiv and the West that Moscow has put forward as justification for its invasion.

They include pledges to "de-Nazify" and de-militarise Ukraine, protect Russian speakers in the country's east and push back against NATO expansion.

Kyiv and the West have rejected all of them, saying Russia's invasion is nothing more than an imperial-style land grab.

Russian and Ukrainian officials held talks in Istanbul in March 2022 aimed at halting the conflict but did not strike a deal.

Contact between the warring sides has been extremely limited since, mainly dedicated to humanitarian issues like prisoner-of-war exchanges and the return of killed soldiers' bodies.

EU leaders, including France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Friedrich Merz, welcomed the prospect of direct talks, but pressed Russia to agree to a ceasefire first.

"First the weapons must be silenced, then the discussions can begin," Merz said on Sunday.

Russia's key ally China on Monday called for a "binding peace agreement" that was "acceptable to all parties."

Elsewhere on the front lines, Russia's army said it had captured a small village in the eastern Donetsk region, while Moscow-backed authorities said four people were killed in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's Kherson region over the last 24 hours.

O.Martin--SMC