Ukraine’s Zelenskyy arrives for peace talks but Russia’s Putin stays away

With Vladimir Putin absent, the Russian delegation was in Istanbul and it was not clear whether the sides would meet for their first such talks since March 2022

The Ukrainian president said the next steps for talks would be decided after his upcoming meeting with the Turkish president (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

Russian president Vladimir Putin did not show up in Turkey on Thursday for proposed direct peace talks with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was waiting for him in the capital of Ankara after challenging the Kremlin leader to face-to-face discussions on ending their three-year-old war.

With Mr Putin absent, the Russian delegation was in Istanbul and it was not clear whether the sides would meet for their first such talks since March 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour the previous month.