Peace breakthrough unlikely as Putin declines to meet Zelensky

Russia's Vladimir Putin spurned a challenge to meet face-to-face with Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey on Thursday, instead sending a second-tier delegation to planned peace talks, while Ukraine's president said his defence minister would head up Kyiv’s team.

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They will be the first direct talks between the sides since March 2022, but hopes of a major breakthrough were further dented by US President Donald Trump who said there would be no movement without a meeting between himself and Putin.

Zelensky said Putin’s decision not to attend but to send what he called a “decorative” line-up showed the Russian leader was not serious about ending the war. Russia accused Ukraine of trying “to put on a show” around the talks. It was not clear when the talks would actually begin.

"We can't be running around the world looking for Putin,” Zelensky said after meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. “I feel disrespect from Russia. No meeting time, no agenda, no high-level delegation - this is personal disrespect. To Erdogan, to Trump,” Zelensky told reporters.

Zelensky said he himself would also not now go to Istanbul and that his team's mandate was to discuss a ceasefire.