# In a rare televised late-night address from the Kremlin on Saturday, Russian president Vladimir Putin called for direct talks with Ukraine, to remove the root causes of the conflict and start moving towards a lasting, strong peace. It came hours after European leaders visited Ukraine and urged Russia to agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire. Leaders of France, Germany, the UK and Poland were hosted by Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky and in a joint news conference warned that new and massive sanctions would be imposed on Russia should Putin not agree to the ceasefire.
Putin calls for ‘direct talks’ with Ukraine