Volodymyr Zelensky responded to Vladimir Putin's late night in direct negotiations in Istanbul next Thursday.

Ukrainian leaders may slam the 30-day ceasefire in Moscow for not committing to slamming his 30-day ceasefire, which could slam his opposite number, a request from Kiev and its Western allies on Saturday.

Instead, Zelensky wrote on X: "The Russians are finally beginning to consider a positive signal to end the war."

Zelensky added that Ukraine expects Russia to confirm that it will comply with a 30-day ceasefire that began on Monday.

It's hard to say whether Zelensky really sees Putin's proposal for direct conversation as a "positive signal." It's as much as anything else.

Neither Putin nor Zelensky want to be seen as an obstacle to peace by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump's reaction was significantly optimistic. He wrote earlier on his truth social platform, again suggesting that the war is about to end. He wrote: "This could be a great day for Russia and Ukraine!"

Putin said he wanted to resolve what he called the "root cause of the conflict."

From his point of view, this means Ukraine’s unacceptable ambition to become a part of prosperous, democratic Europe, rather than returning to orbit in Moscow and becoming a soft satellite state like Belarus.

He also hopes for a firm commitment that Ukraine will never join NATO.

Moscow demanded Saturday that the West must stop arming Ukraine before any ceasefire begins.

Of course, this will leave the country, unable to withstand Russia's gradual advancement capabilities on the frontline, or worse, a new full-size offense to capture more land.

What Ukraine desperately needs from its allies is the uninterrupted flow of air defenses to resist the growing drones and missiles on the public borders spread across Kiev and other major cities.

Shortly after dawn on Sunday, we were awakened by air strike sirens, and the sirens went out as more and more Russian drones were launched.

On May 9, the U.S. Embassy in Kiev warned its citizens that “there is a high risk of air strikes in the next few days.”

One of the biggest concerns is that the Kremlin may launch another Oreshnik Hypersonic ballistic missile, just as its troops launched at a factory in Dnipro last November.

As its speed approaches 10 times the speed of sound, Russia owns the missile "unstoppable".

So the key question now is what Trump will do next - this can be done either way.

He could decide that his opposite numbers in Moscow were just stringing together, one after another, one excuse after another to disagree with the ceasefire.

Or, given his historic passionate relationship with Putin, will he provide a diplomatic lifeline for Russian leaders and put pressure on Ukraine instead, sit down in Istanbul and listen to Moscow’s demands, regardless of whether there is a ceasefire on Monday?