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Putin Calls for Direct Talks With Ukraine; India-Pakistan Ceasefire Holds; Trump Says, Great Progress in U.S.-China Talks. Aired 3-3.30a ET
Aired May 11, 2025 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ISABEL ROSALES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of our viewers watching from around the world and streaming us on CNN MAX. I'm Isabel Rosales in Atlanta.
Ahead on CNN Newsroom, Vladimir Putin says he wants to hold direct talks with Ukraine just hours after European leaders met in Kyiv and called for Russia to accept a 30-day ceasefire.
The ceasefire between India and Pakistan appears to be holding, though both sides have accused each other of violating it.
And U.S. President Donald Trump is touting, quote, great progress in the ongoing trade talks between the United States and China. We'll go live to Hong Kong for an update.
We're getting reaction from Donald Trump following Russia's proposal for peace talks with Ukraine. Hours ago, the U.S. president posted on social media that it's potentially a great day for Russia and Ukraine and that he'll continue to work with both sides to make sure it happens.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed sitting down with Ukraine face-to-face without any conditions on Thursday. The proposal came hours after top European leaders turned up the pressure on Russia during their joint visit to Kyiv on Saturday, they told Putin to agree to a 30-day ceasefire by Monday or face massive new sanctions.
CNN's Sebastian Shukla has been keeping an eye on this development and he joins us now live from London.
Sebastian, Putin's proposal for direct talks, it comes in response to this deadline by the coalition of the willing. What should be made of this counter proposal by Putin?
SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Isabel, good morning. I think that what we should look into this is that it's a, the latest twist and turn in what is an ongoing saga now of how this war in Ukraine comes to an end. What we don't have any yet is anything really substantive other than the words that President Putin made last night in that late night address inside the Kremlin two those reporters there where he said, we are now prepared to go into direct talks, direct talks being the key thing here, which we haven't yet heard from the Kremlin.
All of these negotiations and talks that have been taking place around the war in Ukraine have not been face-to-face between the two sides here, the two main parties, Ukraine and Russia, themselves. The talks are substantive in that that they'd like to happen sometime next week, the 15th of May, in Turkey, Istanbul. We have yet to hear from Turkey whether they will agree to hosting the talks. And we are also yet to hear whether Ukraine are also going to join there and take up President Putin's offer and run with it.
You are right as well, Isabel, the way that this has been framed at the timing of it is also incredibly important. Those European leaders who stood next to President Zelenskyy yesterday in Kyiv came on the back of those mayday victory parades that happened in Moscow and was meant to be a show of support and unity behind the Ukrainian president. What they demanded yesterday was this 30-day immediate ceasefire coming into effect on Monday.
President Putin appears to have pulled the rug from under them yet again in these negotiations by saying, I'll go one step further. Why don't I propose that we have direct talks this time without saying and providing any particular details about what he would like to these talks to result in? Take a listen to what he had to say yesterday.
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VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: We are committed to holding serious talks with Ukraine in order to eliminate the root causes of the conflict to arrive at an enduring, long lasting peace in the long run, in the long historical run, ceasefires or truces, real ones, that would be respected not only by Russia, but the Ukrainian side, and would be a first step to a long-lasting, enduring peace, not a prologue.
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SHUKLA: The first step on a lasting, enduring piece, that's what President Putin said there. Obviously, with these talks, and as we've all been monitoring, the situation around the pretenses and what the agreements would be to any ceasefire are key in all of this. We have seen all along that President Putin has yet to nail his colors to the mast (ph) in any particular way when it comes to agreeing to a ceasefire. In fact, he often has a litany of reasons of why Russia will not agree to something until the Ukraine is able to make major concessions.
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Those have been, you know, the annexation, the recognition of Crimea as being Russian territory, the stopping of western intelligence sharing and also Ukraine and not being able to join NATO. So, those are all things that would largely be unacceptable to Ukraine. So, we will wait to see now just how the next few days pan out and whether these talks even come into come into being with the Russians and the Ukrainians sat around the same table. Isabel?
ROSALES: And President Donald Trump went on truth social. He gave his take on this back and forth this weekend. What is he saying?
SHUKLA: Yes. I mean, the U.S. president has been on Truth Social where he said today potentially a great day for Russia and Ukraine, and I will work with both sides to make sure that that happens. That is a sign that the U.S. president is really taking these talks incredibly seriously, as he has done for some time. But what we will wait to see again is just how involved and which side, and whether Russia is really going to be able to stick to its word and try to find a way to come to a negotiated settlement.
Don't forget that the U.S. president, Donald Trump, said that he would end this war in 24 hours during his election campaign. He went on to say that, you know, that was perhaps a bluster and of him shooting from the hip, but he's made this a key focus of his administration and it's been a topsy-turvy, turbulent time in these negotiations. We had that incredible scene in the Oval Office where President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance berated the Ukrainian president. They have then subsequently gone on to sign this minerals deal, which is supposed to ensure long-term support for Ukraine, whilst all the while European leaders have coalesced around president Zelenskyy, saying, don't worry. Regardless of the U.S. stance, we are here to support you.
So, the post on Truth Social is a good sign for coming from Donald Trump. We will wait to see whether these talks happen face to face at all.
ROSALES: CNN's Sebastian Shukla, thank you very much.
Well, for more analysis, we are joined by Nigel Gould-Davies. He is a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He's also a former British ambassador to Belarus. He joins us live now from London. Nigel, thank you for being with us.
So, listen, over here you've got the coalition of the willing, demanding that Putin agree to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire by Monday or else, and then you've got Putin firing back saying he's not going to be pressured by anyone into a ceasefire agreement, and instead saying he's open to direct talks with Ukraine in Turkey. What do you make of this pivot by Putin and is this all just a part of his playbook?
NIGEL GOULD-DAVIES, SENIOR FELLOW FOR RUSSIA AND EURASIA, IISS: I would say is the latest stage in a quite remarkable series of diplomatic developments that have set in over the past three weeks or so. You just go back to mid-April and recall how differently things looked to then. At that time, the United States was floating a peace proposal that envisaged Russia being recognized for its control over Crimea, a longstanding goal of Russia. In addition to that, Russia, Putin was demanding the lifting of sanctions as the price for any peace negotiations. Europe and Ukraine were anxious and quite separated out from that sort of us Russia dialogue. Fast forward now, much has changed. The Europeans, the coalition of willing, has come together. They're back on board with President Trump. They had productive talks in Kyiv and on the phone call with Trump. They have now agreed to greatly escalate sanctions or not lift them, but escalate sanctions on Russia if Russia doesn't agree to an unconditional ceasefire. And now Putin, in response, evading that, but making an implicit concession of his own, something he's not done before, which is to agree, to propose unconditional talks.
Now, he still faces the prospect of much more severe sanctions come Monday, but he's never done that before. So, my sense is now we've seen a series of unwelcome developments as far as the Kremlin is concerned. They're on the back foot now. They're doing everything they can to try to avert new pressure. So, the Transatlantic Alliance at this point has shown herself to be stronger than Putin hoped.
ROSALES: Yes, even though he says the ball is in Ukraine's court. Well, President Trump posted this on Truth Social, excuse me, just hours ago saying in part this, a potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine.
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Think of the hundreds of lives that will be saved as this never ending blood bath hopefully comes to an end and will continue to work with both sides to make sure that happens. The USA wants to focus instead on rebuilding and trade, a big week upcoming.
Now, he posted that after Putin's response. If Putin sticks to his guns here and ignores this Monday deadline from the coalition of the willing, what happens next, especially in light of the American president seemingly pleased with how things have landed?
GOULD-DAVIES: Yes. Well, of course, the Kremlin will be thinking very carefully what that statement implies, and they will be hoping that the proposal for unconditional talks or will do the work that that Putin hopes, which is to try to persuade at the 11th hour, persuade President Trump not to support the escalation of further sanctions, further economic pressure on Russia. And make no mistake, the Russian economy faces real and cumulative and growing difficulties now.
So, this is really what the Kremlin hoped. We won't -- they've said in effect, we won't agree to the unconditional suit style. We'll do something different and we'll hope that will sow division and cause the west to pull back from this threat of much more serious measures.
So, I think if you are looking at this from the west now, the important thing is to do what you said you'd do and go ahead with those further sanctions. If the west doesn't do that now, that will be a sign of weakness that it's not prepared to follow through on the positions that it has set out.
ROSALES: And real quick from you, Nigel. Sanctions have been threatened before. In fact, there's been thousands of sanctions imposed on Russia. Do you think these are any different and would actually hurt Putin this time around? GOULD-DAVIES: Yes, I do. There is more the west can do where we've seen a sign of that just a few days ago. My country, Britain, just greatly increased the number of so-called shadow fleet tankers that it sanctioned and sort of knocked out of action. These are the ships that Putin now uses to send Russia's oil around the world to evade sanctions on them.
Oil is the lifeblood of the Russian economy. If Russia can be cut off from its ability to earn what it needs from its oil sales, that would make the Russian economy very vulnerable very quickly.
ROSALES: Hey, the whole world watching this very closely.
Nigel Gould-Davies, thank you very much. I appreciate your time.
GOULD-DAVIES: Thank you.
ROSALES: Well, India and Pakistan are accusing each other of violating their tense and new ceasefire, but so far that ceasefire is holding. Saturday's agreement ended the worst fighting in decades between the two nuclear armed neighbors.
U.S. President Donald Trump is taking credit for the ceasefire He posted on social media that the agreement came after a long night of talks mediated by the United States. Pakistan is thanking Trump, but India is downplaying the U.S. role, saying that the ceasefire happened because of direct talks with Pakistan.
Journalist Vedika Sud joins us live from Delhi with more. Hey, Vedika.
VEDIKA SUD, JOURNALIST: Isabel, just when the tit-for-tat military offensive between India and Pakistan on Saturday was spiraling out of control, an unexpected announcement came from the U.S. president, Donald Trump. On Truth Social, he issued a statement saying that both countries had agreed to an immediate ceasefire, and like you said, he took credit for it.
Moments later, there was a more detailed statement coming from U.S. secretary of state, where he spoke about how the U.S. Vice President Vance and he, for the last 48 hours, had been in hectic talks with both sides with India and Pakistan, with the top leadership, the Indian prime minister with the Pakistan prime minister with the Army chief of Pakistan, and he did, again, confirm that both sides had agreed to ceasefire. More importantly in that statement, he said that the two sides that also agreed to start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site.
A minute later, Pakistan confirmed that they had agreed to that ceasefire, and then later India also came ahead with a statement.
Now, what's interesting here, Isabel, is while Trump is taking credit for this, there seem to be contradictory versions and accounts coming from the Indian government and the Pakistani government. While the Pakistani government has hailed D.C. for their efforts, India has made it very clear that this has happened due to talks between the two countries, India and Pakistan. Now, let's talk about what's really happening across the line of control on both sides. At best, I would describe the ceasefire as a fragile one, given that as after these announcements were made by the U.S., by India, by Pakistan, both countries, India and Pakistan, accused the other of violating the ceasefire. Here's what India's foreign secretary had to say.
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VIKRAM MISRI, INDIAN FOREIGN SECRETARY: This is a breach of the understanding arrived at earlier today. The armed forces are giving an adequate and appropriate response to these violations, and we take very, very serious notice of these violations. We call upon Pakistan to take appropriate steps to address these violations and deal with the situation with seriousness and responsibility.
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SUD: Just sometime back, the U.S. president, Donald Trump, has posted on Truth Social, and he has called this decision taken by both countries both heroic and historic. But let's just take a step back and see the big picture here. We are talking about tension still on both sides of the line of control. And what this means is while there is a fragile piece for now on both sides, we don't know really if the ceasefire is going to last, and if it does, for how long? Back to you.
ROSALES: Vedika Sud in Delhi, thank you for your time.
Well, Iran says it is ready for another round of talks with the U.S. over its nuclear program. That is according to the Iranian foreign minister who's reportedly notified Oman, which is mediating those negotiations, that they are prepared to resume discussions today.
Oman, for its part, has not commented about another possible round of negotiations, but to Iran appears even more mistrustful ahead of the potential sit-down. An Iranian official told CNN that the recent talks were, quote, not genuine from the American side, and were likely designed as a, quote, trap to draw the situation toward tension.
There's much more to come on CNN Newsroom when we return. We will get a live report on the first meeting between the US and China, since President Trump sparked a global trade war.
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ROSALES: A source tells CNN that U.S. and Chinese officials are preparing for a second day of trade talks in Geneva. U.S. President Donald Trump says, quote, great progress was made on Saturday. And he projected optimism about the meeting on Truth Social, saying the two countries are negotiating what he calls a total reset on trade. The president said many things were discussed and agreed to, but he didn't get into any specifics.
For more on how China is reacting, let's go to Kristie Lu Stout, who is in Hong Kong. And, Kristie, according to the Chinese, just how much progress has actually been made here? KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Isabel, it's interesting because when you bring up that truth social post from the U.S. president, he's giving out that signal of positivity, also signal of relative positivity from Xinhua, the official news agency, which in a recent commentary called the talks underway right now between U.S. and China and Geneva a, quote, important step on Saturday. Hali Fung, the vice premier of China, held talks for about eight hours in Geneva, Switzerland with the U.S. treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and also with the U.S. trade representative, and the talks are set to continue today, according to state-run media, as well as a source to CNN.
And these talks are significant. This is the first time we're seeing the U.S. and China having high level face-to-face talks since U.S. President Donald Trump launched the latest trade war in March.
Now, on Saturday, that's when we saw the release of that commentary and Xinhua calling these talks an important step. And in full, it said this, engagement in Switzerland is an important step toward resolving the issue. However, an ultimate solution requires sufficient strategic patience and determination, as well as the just support of the international community.
Earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump slapped up to 145 percent tariffs on China. China retaliated with 125 percent tariffs on U.S. imports. It also hit back with curbs on U.S. imports of film products, as well as curbs of exports of rare earth to the United States, which is such a critical component for the U.S. defense industry, for the technology industry as well.
Before these talks in Geneva, Donald Trump floated the idea of being open to the possibility of lowering tariffs on China to 80 percent, which he revealed in a Truth Social post. And, yes, 80 percent tariffs would be far less than 145 percent tariffs but still represent a major drag on trade between the U.S. and China.
There is a lot riding on these talks. The ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China has upended global markets, upended the U.S. bond market, upended the supply chain, has raised the risk of recession as well. And allies (ph) say, don't expect an immediate breakthrough from these talks.
And we did hear some interesting analysis from one Shanghai-based consultant, I wanted to bring this up to you. His name is Bo Zhenguan. He's a partner of Plenum. And he says this, quote, if there is a temporary truce or symmetrical rollback of tariffs, that would be conducive to future potential holistic negotiation efforts, so kind of a note of optimism there.
But there is something that's complicating matters. Any sort of talk on trade doesn't just require talking about trade and tit-for-tat tariffs, but also a host of non-trade issues as well between the US and China. That would include technology restrictions. That would include cooperation on fentanyl and the flow of fentanyl precursor products. That would also include, as we've heard from the president recently of the United States, the fate and future of Jimmy Lai, the jailed Hong Kong media mogul. So, we're watching these talks very closely in Geneva. Back to you.
ROSALES: Yes. And so many economists warning that 80 percent still is nowhere near good enough, 50 percent, but they're making as the make- or-break threshold to return back to normal between the two countries. So, we'll have to keep a close watch on that.
Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong, thank you.
STOUT: Thank you.
ROSALES: Well, Pope Leo is settling into his new role. He is also setting the tone for his papacy and will lead tens of thousands of the faithful in prayer in St. Peter's Square, just in the coming hours. More just ahead.
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ROSALES: How cool is this? More than 3,000 people gathered in Bolivia Saturday on a quest to break a world record. They are playing traditional Indian flutes called tantas (ph). The instruments are associated with one of Bolivia's indigenous cultures and their use in traditional musical gatherings called Tantialas.
Organizers say they are hoping to set a new record for the world's largest Tantiala. People also dance, they play drums and overall just celebrating Bolivia's cultural diversity.
Live pictures now from the Vatican, where in just a few hours, Pope Leo XIV will lead the Regina Caeli Prayer from the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square. More than 150,000 faithful are expected to take part. The pontiff is settling into his new role and, of course, setting the tone for his papacy. He had a first formal meeting with his cardinals. And among other things, he described artificial intelligence as a challenge for working people. His insulation mass is next Sunday.
Atika Shubert has more from Rome on the new papacy of Leo XIV.
ATIKA SHUBERT, JOURNALIST: Well, Saturday morning, Pope Leo met with cardinals to discuss themes that were brought up during the general congregations before the Conclave, and he signaled that he intends to closely follow the example of Pope Francis.
He also explained why he chose the name, Leo, said that he was inspired by Pope Leo XIII and his defense of workers' rights in the late 19th and early 20th century. Today, the pope said, we face similar challenges just from A.I.
Now, in the afternoon, he went to the Augustinian Sanctuary outside of Rome, known as the Madonna del Buon Consiglio, or the Mother of Good Counsel. He met with members of the religious order there, but also had a private prayer in front of the sacred image of the Virgin Mary there. Now, of course, he's a member of the Augustinian Order, but he's also been known to go here for prayer in the past. So, this is very much a personal, meaningful first visit by the pope.
He ended the day with a visit to Santa Maria Maggiore. This is, of course, where Pope Francis is buried. And this was homage to Pope Francis.
Now, on Sunday, we expect the pope to preside over the Regina Caeli Prayer here at St. Peter's Square. An estimated 150,000 people are expected to attend.
Atika Shubert for CNN in Rome.
ROSALES: And thank you for joining us. I'm Isabel Rosales in Atlanta.
Back of House is next, and then there's even more CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta in just 30 minutes.
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