Donald Trump said he was willing to join talks between Turkey, Russia and Ukraine on Thursday, a proposal quickly received a welcome in Kiev as international efforts reinforced the "right idea" to end the war.

The U.S. president will visit the Gulf this week to officially travel to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, and said he can circulate Türkiye to participate in planned talks between the two belligerent parties.

"I don't know where I'm going, I have a lot of meetings, but I was thinking about actually flying over there," Trump told a White House reporter on Monday. "I think if I think things will happen, but we have to finish it."

Trump has previously described the prospect of direct negotiations between Moscow and Kiev as "a possible good day for Russia and Ukraine!"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the U.S. initiative, saying in a statement: "If President Trump can be with us at this meeting in Türkiye, everyone in Ukraine will appreciate it." “That’s the right idea,” he continued. “We can change a lot.”

The president's proposal to join the talks was due to diplomatic efforts to stop the war in Ukraine and boosted equipment in a series of high-profile meetings in Kiev over the weekend. Ukrainian military leaders and analysts said Russian troops stepped up their offensives at several important locations on the 1,000-kilometer front.

Allies called on Russia to agree to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire starting Monday, which may face "massive" new sanctions, following negotiations between Zelenskyy and leaders of Germany, Britain, France and Poland in Kiev.

The position was endorsed by Keith Kellogg, vice president of Trump’s Trump, on Sunday, despite Trump himself being more protected in public comments on the issue.

Russian President Vladimir Putin responded on Sunday that Moscow and Kiev should hold direct negotiations in Istanbul this Thursday, "without any premise." It is not clear whether he intends to attend in person.

Putin also appears to have rejected Western calls for a ceasefire, saying that these demands are "last-to-end atums." The statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry said any discussion on the ceasefire must be negotiated before the root cause of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Trump responded to Russia's talks proposal, saying "Ukraine should agree to this immediately."

"At least they will be able to determine whether a deal is possible," he wrote. "If this is not the case, European leaders and the United States will know where everything is and can proceed accordingly!"

Trump also complained that he "begins to doubt Ukraine would reach an agreement with Putin."

Zelenskyy then agreed to the talks in Istanbul, challenging the Russian leader to appear to show the two of them met in person for the second time.

"I will be in Türkiye this Thursday," Zelenskyy said. "I hope this time, Putin will not look for excuses for why he can't do it. We're ready to talk about ending this war."

Putin and Zelenskyy met in Paris in December 2019 and failed to agree to a peace plan to end the Kremlin armed conflict in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which began in 2014.

On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not clarify whether Putin plans to attend his proposed meeting. However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reached an agreement on a phone call with Putin on Sunday to hold a meeting in Istanbul.

Peskov described the premise of a 30-day ceasefire as an unacceptable last-pass atum.

"This kind of last word is inappropriate, it is inappropriate. You can't talk to Russia in this way," he said.

Zelenskyy's office told the Financial Times whether the Ukrainian president will go to Türkiye, whether Putin appears or not. Andriy Yermak, the president's chief of staff, told the Ukrainian media that Ukraine "will not give Russia a reason to accuse us of undermining the peace process."

Türkiye held talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials in 2022, weeks after Russia's full-scale invasion of its Western neighbors.

However, the negotiations took place in an act that was revealed to have been condemned as a war crime by Russian troops in Bucha massacre near Kiev.

As part of Ukraine’s “balanced” approach, Turkey is one of the few countries that have established good relations with both sides, maintaining trade and diplomatic relations with Moscow, while also providing military supplies to Kiev.

The latest push for peace was carried out in the new Russian spring offensive, with its military forces attacking strategic cities of Pokrovsk, Torretsk and Chasif Yar in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian analytics Deep State, which has links to the Ministry of Defense, said that during the unilateral "ceasefire" in Russia from May 8 to 10, the country's troops launched daily attacks than the same period in April.

Over three days, it recorded about 155 individual attacks a day.

"There is no ceasefire in any way," the group said.

Other reports by John Paul Rathbone in Istanbul