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

President Donald Trump again teased his possible attendance in Istanbul for the Russia-Ukraine peace talks on Friday

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the proposed peace talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Istanbul, ending hopes for a historic face-to-face meeting since the war began.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan has probably never held more global sway: he will host the first direct Russia-Ukraine peace talks in three years on Thursday, days after his country's militant nemesis,