The US reacted to Putin's offer of talks

Keith Kellogg, Donald Trump's special representative for international affairs, has said that any peace talks on Ukraine should start exclusively after the introduction of an unconditional 30-day ceasefire. He wrote this on his social media page X, reacting to Russian proposals to start direct talks with Kiev without prior de-escalation.

As President Trump has repeatedly emphasised: stop the killing! First, an unconditional ceasefire for 30 days, and only then a transition to broad peace talks. Not the other way round," Kellogg noted.

His statement came in response to New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Lacson, who remotely participated in a meeting of "coalition of the determined" leaders on 10 May. The New Zealand head of government also expressed support for the idea of initiating a comprehensive ceasefire as a first step towards a possible political solution to the conflict. Kellogg emphasised in response: "Even the Prime Minister of New Zealand understands this".

We shall remind you that on 10 May in Kiev, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and members of the "coalition of the resolute" proposed to Russia to start a 30-day silence regime from 12 May - on land, in the air and at sea. The initiative has been endorsed by several states, including the United States. If the proposal was rejected, the allies promised to step up military and diplomatic support for Ukraine.

In response, Putin proposed direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on 15 May without a preliminary ceasefire, saying they should build on previously initiated but uncompleted agreements reached in Turkey.