A low-level Russian team has been dispatched to Istanbul, but direct talks with Ukraine are still uncertain.

President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Turkey on May 15 ahead of potential ceasefire negotiations with Russia, even as Russian President Vladimir Putin is skipping the talks. Zelensky's plane has landed at the Ankara airport.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Turkey early Thursday for scheduled peace talks, but Russian President Vladimir Putin did not show up. Zelensky hammered the Russian delegation

Putin hasn't yet said whether he will be at the talks, which Trump has urged Ukraine and Russia to attend as part of Washington's efforts to stop the fighting.

Vladimir Putin has greatly reduced his public appearances and has not been seen since the end of March, with the Russian despot now unlikely to meet Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey this week

Ukraine had framed Zelensky's demand for a face-to-face meeting with Putin as a test of Russia's true willingness to negotiate peace. Arriving in Turkey, he slammed the Russian delegation as "theatrical" and contrasted it to Ukraine's high-level group.

Just as their forces are stalemated on the battlefield, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are in a rhetorical standoff over preconditions for peace talks. Putin offered to begin talks Thursday in Istanbul under the auspices of Turkey with no preconditions,