More than 18,000 Russian soldiers have been reported to the courts for being absent without leave since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, the UK says.

According to the latest update on X from the Ministry of Defence (MoD), 18,159 troops have been faced with a decade-long prison sentence for going AWOL between February 2022 and May 2025.

That is a criminal offence in Russia and a staggering 17,721 (86.2%) of those soldiers were prosecuted.

Citing Russian independent news outlet Mediazona, the MoD said a further 2,379 soldiers were reported to the courts for desertion or refusing orders.

The British officials pointed out there are multiple reasons a soldier could desert.

“Brutal discipline in the Russian Armed Forces, poor medical treatment for injured soldiers and inadequate military training all likely contribute,” the MoD said.

Putin’s soldiers could end up serving on the frontline against Ukraine within 14 days of signing a contract – and just five days of relevant military training.

The MoD continued: “This all runs counter to the official narrative that the Russian leadership values the military service of those who fight in Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.

“It is a realistic possibility that those prosecuted could commute their sentence by serving in the Russian Storm-Z convict assault units.”

There have been multiple reports of low morale among Russian troops ever since Putin invaded.

In 2023, UK intelligence suggested thousands of Russian casualties in Ukraine were linked to “alcohol consumption” and that soldiers could be “coerced” into joining to boost recruitment numbers.

Despite this chaos within the Russian forces, Putin is still dragging his heels over possible ceasefire talks with Ukraine – even when US mediators suggest terms more favourable to Moscow than Kyiv.

A Russian politician has condemned Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s recent promise to wait for Vladimir Putin for peace talks in Istanbul.

After his Russian counterpart offered to “resume negotiations” on ending the Ukraine war in Turkey last week, the Ukrainian president agreed – as long as there was a “full and lasting ceasefire”.

Writing on X, Zelenskyy said: “We await a full and lasting ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy. There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will be waiting or Putin in Turkey on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look excuses.”

The Kremlin has not directly responded to the Ukrainian president’s remarks but a Russian senator dismissed them altogether on Monday.

Speaking to Rossiya-24 TV broadcast, the federation council’s deputy speaker, Konstantin Kosachev, said: “It’s pure theatrics, a total farce.

“That’s not how high high-level meetings are arranged, especially given the seriousness of the situation.”

The senator claimed this would be an “impromptu” meeting and that is not the way to conduct such important negotiations.

He said: “Zelenskyy should known this from his own bitter experience, when he came unprepared to his meeting with President Trump in the White House in February, ending in a complete fiasco for him.”

The Ukrainian president was actually very prepared for his meeting in the White House in February, but he had to cut the visit short after Trump and his vice-president JD Vance berated him in front of the press.

At the time Trump was much more aligned with the Kremlin but he has since improved his relationship with Kyiv, and has even questioned if Putin really does want to stop the war.

Even though it was the Russian president who suggested further peace talks in Istanbul on Thursday, Kosachev claimed Zelensky is trying to “turn the tables” on Russia so he can call Putin uncooperative.

The senior Russian politician continued: “Zelensky does not need a meeting with the Russian president now. He should be afraid of meeting with him. And I am sure that he is afraid, because, as Mr Trump rightly says, he holds no cards. It is true, and Zelensky is in a terrible situation.”

Meanwhile, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov just told reporters that Putin is serious about peace talks.

He said: “We are committed to a serious search for ways of a long-term peaceful settlement.

“This approach, aimed precisely at finding a real diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis, eliminating the root causes of the conflict and establishing lasting peace, has met with understanding and support from the leaders of many countries.”

He cut off any further questions by saying: “That’s all. I’ve said everything I could about this story.”

Vladimir Putin has offered to start peace talks with Ukraine after renewed pressure from Kyiv’s western allies.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed his words but made it clear he would only negotiate if a ceasefire were implemented first – the Russian president has refused to agree to any lengthy truce so far.

So could this be the beginning of the end of the Putin’s bloody war in Ukraine, or is this – as some fear – just another manipulation tactic from the Kremlin?

Here’s what we know.

Putin has proposed direct talks with Ukraine on May 15 in Turkey.

“We are proposing that Kyiv resume direct negotiations without any preconditions,” Putin said overnight on Sunday. “We offer the Kyiv authorities to resume negotiations already on Thursday, in Istanbul.”

Even though he started the conflict by invading Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian president said the talks should focus on the “root causes” of the war.

The Kremlin has repeatedly claimed Russia was “provoked” into the conflict, pointing to Nato’s expansion since the fall of the Berlin Wall, although to Ukraine and its allies, it was an imperialistic land grab.

Putin then made a dig at the West, saying: “The decision is now up to the Ukrainian authorities and their curators, who are guided, it seems, by their personal political ambitions, and not by the interests of their peoples.”

While Putin insisted Russia no longer needs preconditions for any such talks, the Kremlin has already said Western arms going to Ukraine would need to stop during any ceasefire, otherwise “it will be an advantage” for Kyiv.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed: “Ukraine will use this period to train new military personnel and to give a rest to their existing ones. So why should we grant such an advantage to Ukraine?”

It comes after European leaders – including Keir Starmer – met in Ukraine over the weekend and threatened to impose “massive” new sanctions on Russia if Putin did not agree to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire this Monday.

Although Putin dismissed these “boorish” demands as “ultimatums”, he may have felt forced to show he was willing for the conflict to end – especially as his relations with Donald Trump are starting to strain.

Putin has been dragging his heels, offering very few concessions, despite Trump’s push for a quick resolution to the war.

Russia’s previous attempts at ceasefires have been short-lived.

A promise to stop attacking energy infrastructure, a brief Easter ceasefire in April and a three-day pause this week during the 80th anniversary of World War 2 have all failed.

Ukraine called the latest attempted truce a “farce” and manipulation from Moscow.

Despite these failures, the White House appeared to be willing for the conflict to end on Putin’s terms and considered handed over occupied Ukrainian land to Russia in the name of peace.

Yet Putin still played for time – and Trump has in recent weeks expressed more frustration with the Russian president, having been incredibly sympathetic.

After the US president accused Putin of “tapping me along”, the Kremlin spokesperson told reporters that this was not the case.

“President Putin is doing whatever is possible to solve the problem, to achieve a settlement through peaceful and diplomatic means. But having no peaceful and diplomatic means at hand, we have to continue the military operation,” he said.

But does he actually want peace?

It’s likely Putin will want to retain as much Ukraine as possible – he currently holds a fifth of the country – and will try to neutralise it by removing its military.

Last June, the president said Ukraine should drop its Nato ambitions and called for it to pull all of its troops out of occupied areas to end the war.

Russian officials have also suggested the US recognise Russia’s control over parts of Ukraine and called for Ukraine to stay neutral, although that does not mean it could not join EU.

Putin has mentioned the 2022 draft deal which was negotiated after Putin’s initial invasion.

It sees Ukraine agree to permanent neutrality in exchange for international security guarantees from the UK, China, France, Russia and the US (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council).

Putin claims it was not Russia who broke off those negotiations but Ukraine “at the insistence of the West”.

Trump welcomed the change in tune from the Kremlin.

He wrote on Truth Social: “A potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine! Think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be saved as this never ending ‘bloodbath’ hopefully coms to an end.”

Zelenskyy also appeared to welcome the news – but he reminded Putin he only wanted to commit to talks if a ceasefire were in place.

He said on X: “It is a positive sign that the Russians have finally begun to consider ending the war. The entire world has been waiting for this for a very long time.”

But he added: “And the very first step in truly ending any war is a ceasefire. There is no point in continuing the killing even for a single day.

“We expect Russia to confirm a ceasefire – full, lasting, and reliable – starting tomorrow, May 12th, and Ukraine is ready to meet.”

Ukraine’s allies also seemed more wary than Trump.

Starmer said on Saturday, “if he [Putin] is serious about peace, then he has a chance to show it”.

UK home secretary Yvette Cooper told Sky News: “We need a serious response from Russia, they started this illegal invasion of Ukraine and everyone wants to see peace in Ukraine, and now we’ve had the huge international pressure calling for ceasefire, we do need to see a serious response from the Russia regime.

“That so far has been lacking, I hope that they will now take that seriously.”

“It’s a first step but it’s not enough. An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations,” French president Emmanuel Macron told reporters.

However, as author of Putin’s War on Ukraine Samuel Ramani told Times Radio: “That’s exactly the trap that the Russians are trying to set for Zelenskyy. By not going ahead with the ceasefire, but then making an offer of talks, [they are] setting up a situation where Zelenskyy rejects it.”