It was a proposal that the Kremlin could neither outright reject nor accept, intended to force it into an awkward choice, revealing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s true appetite for his brutal war of choice.

President Vladimir Putin said, according to a translation by the BBC: "We are determined to have serious negotiations with Ukraine. The purpose is to eliminate the root causes of the conflict and establish long-term, lasting peace with a historical perspective.

This is the moment Vladimir Putin called Western leaders ‘morons’ after he was threatened with new sanctions. Key European leaders warned that Russia will face the sanctions if Putin fails to agree to a 30-day ceasefire and attend peace talks in Turkey on Thursday.