No Zelensky-Putin meeting in Istanbul as both leaders back out; Ukrainian delegation to represent Kyiv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said he will not visit Istanbul for talks with Russia, reported news agency AFP quoting a Ukrainian official. Instead, a Ukrainian delegation will meet Russian negotiators, he said.

Zelensky said he was still ready for peace talks with Russia, but President Vladimir Putin was not serious about negotiations.

This came after talks between Zelensky and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan concluded in Ankara.

President Volodymyr Zelensky himself will not travel to Istanbul and is "currently deciding" who to send, the official told AFP.

Earlier in the day,  a low-ranking Russian delegation arrived in Istanbul for peace talks with Ukraine, while a Ukrainian delegation led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and including other senior government figures landed in the Turkish capital Ankara.

Putin was not part of the Moscow delegation, according to a list released by the Kremlin Wednesday night, prompting criticism from Western officials that the Kremlin isn't serious about the peace effort.

Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Putin, is leading the Russian team that also includes include three other senior officials. Putin also appointed four lower-level officials as “experts” for the talks.

Earlier this week, Zelenskyy challenged the Russian leader to meet in person in Turkiye to talk about ending the more than three-year war. Zelenskyy said he would travel to Ankara to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and wait for Putin.

Kyiv and its European allies had urged the Kremlin to agree to a full, unconditional 30-day ceasefire as a first step toward peace. Putin effectively rejected the proposal, offering direct talks between Russia and Ukraine instead.

The Kremlin billed Thursday's talks as a “restart” of peace negotiations that were held in Istanbul in the first weeks of the war in 2022 but quickly fell apart. Moscow accused Ukraine and the West of wanting to continue fighting, while Kyiv said Russia's demands amounted to an ultimatum rather than something both sides could agree on.