Putin delays ceasefire by snubbing peace talks with Zelensky, Starmer says

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of "dragging his feet" and obstructing peace efforts in Ukraine after Putin declined to attend face-to-face talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey, the Guardian reported on May 15.

"What's happened today is further evidence that it's Putin who is dragging his feet," Starmer said. "It is Putin who is causing the delay in a ceasefire."

After Moscow proposed to hold peace talks in Turkey this week, Zelensky agreed and invited Putin for a face-to-face meeting. The Russian leader declined to attend and appointed his aide, Vladimir Medinsky, to lead the talks.

Ukraine, in turn, decided to send its delegation on May 15, led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. It would not include the head of the General Staff, and the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), as it was previously suggested.

Starmer said Ukraine had already agreed to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire and that it was Moscow that continued to block progress.

"Ukraine has long been clear, several months ago now, that they would have a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, and we have long said that it’s Putin who is standing in the way of that peace," he said.

The talks, which could become the first direct diplomatic encounter between the two leaders since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, stalled after Putin appointed a delegation of lower-level officials to attend instead. Zelensky and Putin met only once during the 2019 Normandy Four meeting in France. Since then, there have been no direct in-person meetings between the two.

Kyiv and its allies have proposed an unconditional 30-day ceasefire beginning on May 12 as a first step toward peace — a proposal that Russia has so far ignored.