Russian drones attack Ukraine after the Kremlin turns down a ceasefire proposal but promises talks

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched more than 100 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine in nighttime attacks, the Ukrainian air force said Monday, after the Kremlin effectively rejected an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in the more than three-year war, but reiterated it would take part in possible peace talks later this week without preconditions.

There was no direct response from the Kremlin, meanwhile, to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s challenge for Russian leader Vladimir Putin to meet him for face-to-face peace talks in Turkey on Thursday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to say who might travel to Istanbul from the Russian side.

“Overall, we’re determined to seriously look for ways to achieve a long-term peaceful settlement. That is all,” Peskov said.

The United States and European governments are making a concerted push to stop the fighting, which has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides, as well as more than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians. Russia’s invading forces have taken around one-fifth of Ukraine in Europe's biggest conflict since World War II.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he’s optimistic about the Istanbul talks. There is “the potential for a good meeting” between Putin and Zelenskyy, Trump said in Washington, adding that he was “thinking about flying over” to the talks from his visit to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates that day.

Zelenskyy supported the prospect of Trump attending the negotiations. “I supported President Trump with the idea of direct talks with Putin. I have openly expressed my readiness to meet," he said. “And of course, all of us in Ukraine would appreciate it if President Trump could be there with us at this meeting in Turkey.”

In a flurry of diplomatic developments over the weekend, Russia shunned the ceasefire proposal tabled by the U.S. and European leaders, but offered direct talks with Ukraine on Thursday.

Ukraine, along with European allies, had demanded that Russia accept a ceasefire starting Monday before holding peace talks. Moscow effectively rejected that proposal and instead called for direct negotiations in Istanbul.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had discussed Russian-Ukrainian peace efforts in separate calls with Zelenskyy, Putin and Trump.

Erdogan said “a new window of opportunity has emerged for peace,” and claimed that previous talks hosted by Turkey in 2022 came close to success but were derailed by “war barons.”

“We support my dear friend Trump’s determination to resolve active conflicts through dialogue and diplomacy,” he said.

Trump insisted that Ukraine accept the Russian offer of talks. Zelenskyy went a step further Sunday and put pressure on Putin by offering a personal meeting.

France added its voice to that offer Monday, with Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot urging Putin to accept — though Barrot repeated the European position that a truce must be in place before the talks.

Russia's failure to join the ceasefire offered by Ukraine would bring further sanctions on Moscow, European leaders say. Germany on Monday reminded Russia of that intention.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, said the pressure on Russia was increasing.

“Everybody wants peace now. Ukraine wants peace, Europe wants peace, the US wants peace,'' he told The Associated Press during an interview in London. “Now Russia needs to make up their mind whether they also want peace or not, an unconditional ceasefire.”

Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said that giving ultimatums to Russia was “unacceptable” and wouldn't work. "You cannot talk to Russia in this language,” he told reporters.

Also on Monday, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy was hosting in London senior diplomatic officials from France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland and the European Union to discuss how best to fight back against Russian aggression.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said he expected the two sides to reach a compromise in the coming days that might break the deadlock over whether talks could begin without a truce in place.

Russian and Ukrainian officials are mindful of public opinion in their countries and are trying to secure the support of the United States for their stances, he said in explaining the delay.

In Kyiv, residents expressed a mixture of hope and despondency at the latest peace efforts.

Putin doesn’t want a truce to halt the war, because “it will mean that he has lost,” Antonina Metko, 43, told The Associated Press. “That is why they are postponing it. And everything will continue in the same way. Unfortunately.”

Vladyslav Nehrybetskyi, 72, was more upbeat, saying that “the seeds” of a peace agreement are being sown, even though “a difficult process” lies ahead. “So let’s hope.”

Ukraine's government has tried to keep up the momentum for a peace deal started by the Trump administration.

“Ukraine wants to end this war and is doing everything for this,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram. “We expect appropriate steps from Russia.”

The Ukrainian leader said that he told Pope Leo XIV about peace efforts during his first phone conversation with the new pontiff.

Ukraine is counting on the Vatican's help in securing the return of thousands of children that the government says have been deported by Russia, Zelenskyy said, adding that he had invited the pope to visit Ukraine.

In his first Sunday noon blessing as pontiff, Leo called for a genuine and just peace in Ukraine.

“I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people,” he said.

In 2022, in the war’s early months, Zelenskyy repeatedly called for a personal meeting with Putin but was rebuffed, and eventually enacted a decree declaring that holding negotiations with him had become impossible.

Putin and Zelenskyy have only met once, in 2019. Trump says that “deep hatred” between the sides has made it difficult to push peace efforts forward.

Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Danica Kirka in London, Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, and Geir Moulson in Berlin, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, May 12, 2025, Russian servicemen attend a combat training for assault units in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, May 12, 2025, Russian servicemen attend a combat training for assault units in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy speaks to the media as he hosts talks on Ukraine and the future of European security, at Lancaster House in London, Monday, May 12, 2025. (Carlos Jasso/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy speaks to the media as he hosts talks on Ukraine and the future of European security at Lancaster House in London, Monday, May 12, 2025. (Carlos Jasso/Pool Photo via AP)

From left, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz make a call to U.S. President Donald Trump from Kyiv, Ukraine, on Saturday, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting on Thursday as Wall Street's momentum cools following a big rally that had brought it to the brink of its record.

The S&P 500 was 0.1% higher in morning trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 84 points, or 0.2%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher.

Boeing was the biggest reason for the Dow’s struggles. It lost 3.9% after Air India said a London-bound flight crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad airport Thursday with 242 passengers and crew onboard. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed into a residential area near the airport five minutes after taking off. The cause of the crash wasn’t immediately known.

But Oracle was pushing upward on the market after jumping 12.9%. The tech giant delivered stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Oracle CEO Safra Catz also said it expects revenue growth “will be dramatically higher” in its upcoming fiscal year, and it was providing the strongest lift for the S&P 500.

Stocks were broadly getting some help from easing Treasury yields in the bond market following another encouraging update on inflation. Thursday’s said inflation at the wholesale level wasn’t as bad last month as economists expected, and it followed a report on Wednesday saying something similar about the inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling.

Wall Street took it as a signal that the Federal Reserve will have more leeway to cut interest rates later this year in order to give the economy a boost.

The Federal Reserve has been hesitant to lower interest rates, and it’s been on hold so far this year after cutting at the end of last year, because it’s been waiting to see how much President Donald Trump’s tariffs will hurt the economy and raise inflation. While lower rates can goose the economy by encouraging businesses and households to borrow, they can also accelerate inflation.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.37% from 4.41% late Wednesday and from roughly 4.80% early this year.

Besides the inflation data, a separate report on jobless claims also helped to weigh on Treasury yields. It said slightly more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected, and the total number remained at the highest level in eight months.

“We believe that were it not for the uncertainty caused by the tariffs, the combined information coming from the inflation and labor-market data would have compelled the Fed to have resumed cutting its policy rate by now," according to Thierry Wizman, a strategist at Macquarie.

The Fed's next meeting on interest rates is scheduled for next week, but the nearly unanimous expectation on Wall Street is that it will stand pat again. Traders are betting it's likely to begin cutting in September, according to data from CME Group.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia amid mostly modest movements. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was an outlier, and it tumbled 1.4% to give back some of its strong recent gains. It’s still up nearly 20% for the year so far.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Specialist Glenn Carell works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Ryan Falvey works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, June 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Pedestrians pass by an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm in Tokyo, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

People stand in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

People walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

People walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A trader watches his monitors as he works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)