The Kremlin said the leaders held a detailed discussion about the Russian initiative and Erdogan expressed full support, reiterating Turkey’s readiness to provide a venue and assist in organizing the negotiations.
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Sunday, May 11
Erdogan told Macron that international cooperation is critical for initiating peace negotiations and the "sensitive implementation" of Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction processes, the Turkish Presidency reported.
Pope said he was praying to God to grant the world the "miracle of peace."
Ushakov’s comments follow Russian President Vladimir Putin's May 11 invitation for direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul starting May 15.
The assault began around 2 a.m. on May 11, with Russian forces deploying 108 Shahed-type attack drones and decoy UAVs from multiple directions, Ukraine’s Air Force said.
Zelensky called a ceasefire the essential first step toward ending the war.
The number includes 1,310 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
"Think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved as this never ending 'bloodbath' hopefully comes to an end... I will continue to work with both sides to make sure that it happens."
"An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations," French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on May 11.
U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce called for "concrete proposals from both sides" in order for Washington to "move forward" in peace negotiations.
"If they speak to each other in Russian, he doesn't know what they are saying," one Western official told NBC News. Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, called Witkoff's approach "a very bad idea."
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Tougher sanctions "should be applied to (Russia's) banking and energy sectors, targeting fossil fuels, oil, and the shadow fleet," the leaders of Ukraine, the U.K., France, Germany, and Poland said in a joint statement.
Sunday, May 11
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"Russia is ready for negotiations without any preconditions," Putin claimed in an address marking the end of the three-day Victory Day ceasefire. He invited Ukraine to begin talks in Istanbul on May 15.
The American-made weapons cannot be exported, even by a country that owns them, without approval from the U.S. government.
Ukrainian defense minister Oleksii Reznikov has said that Ukraine expects to receive around two to three models of Western-built fighter jets from NATO partners, one of which will be delivered in larger numbers for more efficient operation and maintenance.
Though no country has yet promised to provide jets to Ukraine, Reznikov is "certain" that the decision to deliver them would come eventually, he said in a March 3 interview to German newspaper Bild.
"I think it will be done through a kind of coalition again, we will have a main model as well as other types," the minister said.
The prediction would mirror the pattern in which Western partners have pledged main battle tanks to Ukraine, with the German-built Leopard 2 model being pledged in much larger numbers than British and American tanks.
"In the tank coalition, the main animal in the Leopard zoo is from Germany, but we also have Challenger, Abrams, light tanks from France," Reznikov added. "But the main battle tank is the Leopard."
Berlin, which has pledged dozens of Leopard tanks to Ukraine, has firmly rejected any possibility of doing the same with fighter jets.
“The question of combat aircraft does not arise at all,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Jan. 29.
Other countries have shown more openness to the idea. On Feb. 10, Ukraine officially requested F-16 multirole fighter jets from the Netherlands, which had earlier said that the country was willing to look into the feasibility of such a delivery.
During President Zelensky's Feb. 8 visit to London, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that "nothing is off the table" when it comes to military aid for Ukraine.
Of all the available models, Ukraine has shown the most interest in the U.S.-built F-16, in service since the 1970s and operated by over 20 nations.
Other models assessed to be a good fit for Ukraine include French Rafale, Swedish Gripen, and Eurofighter Typhoon jets.
Because of the increased complexity and difficulty in training and maintenance involved, delivering new fighter jets is seen as a significantly tougher logistical challenge compared to the provision of Western-built tanks.
Sunak: Providing fighter jets to Ukraine would be complicated
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