Ukrainian and Russian representatives will meet in Istanbul, Turkey, on Thursday, for their first meeting since the opening weeks of Moscow's 3-year-old invasion.

Putin is not going to Istanbul to meet Zelenskyy, so who will represent Russia? Vladimir Putin will not travel to Turkey and is instead sending the deputy foreign affairs and defence ministers, the head of his military intelligence,

The absence of Russia’s president casts uncertainty over scheduled negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.