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.

Rubio said the low level of the Russian delegation likely meant there would be no major breakthroughs for the first direct talks between the two sides in years.

Russia and Ukraine are set to hold their first direct peace talks in three years, but hopes for a breakthrough remained dim after Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned an offer by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet face-to-face in Turkey.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to Turkey for direct talks with Russia. But the Kremlin sent a lower-level delegation that doesn't include President Vladimir Putin.

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

Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia's delegation at peace talks on Ukraine in Turkey, said on Thursday that Moscow's aim was to secure a long-lasting peace with Kyiv by looking for common ground and removing the reasons for the conflict.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky might meet Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Turkey on Thursday – if the Russian leader decides to show up for a summit that he himself suggested.

The talks in Istanbul complicated a European push for the United States to pressure Russia into a ceasefire in Ukraine.