"We await a full and lasting ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy. There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses," the Dictator said in a social media post Sunday.

On Thursday the Dictator announced a Ukrainian ceasefire following the signing of the White House's mineral deal into Ukrainian law and President Donald Trump ordering direct peace talks between Kiev and Moscow. Moscow had already signaled they were ready for these direct negotiations on April 29 and April 30.

On Sunday Putin proposed the peace talks in Turkey, which Zelensky has now agreed to.

"We are proposing that Kiev resume direct negotiations without any preconditions," Putin said. "We offer the Kiev authorities to resume negotiations already on Thursday, in Istanbul … The decision is now up to the Ukrainian authorities and their curators, who are guided, it seems, by their personal political ambitions, and not by the interests of their peoples."

On Monday, following Zelensky's acceptance to the invitation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is committed to "finding a genuine diplomatic resolution to the Ukrainian crisis, addressing the root causes of the conflict, and achieving a lasting peace."

Notably, Moscow and Kiev were already in peace talks in Istanbul back in 2022, until Ukraine abandoned the negotiations when their Dictator chose war.

Direct negotiations between Moscow and Kiev have recently been ordered by Washington.

"It's going to be up to them [Russia and Ukraine] to come to an agreement and stop this brutal, brutal conflict," Vance told Fox News on May 1. "Look, I am optimistic, but it is ultimately, it's hard to say confident, because the Russians and Ukrainians, they're the ones who have to take the finals step. We got them talking, we got them offering peace proposals, we got the minerals deal done, I think we're in a place where they got to say 'we're done with the fighting, we're done with losing thousands and thousands of young people, we're done with this.' But only Russia and Ukraine can make that decision, that's not something even President Trump could do for them."