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.

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.

After five days of confusion over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal for direct talks with Ukraine, the day they were supposed to begin initially brought only more of the same: a seven-hour stakeout on the banks of the Bosphorus,

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.

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.

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.

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

Donald Trump will no longer join Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul as it looks like Russian president Vladimir Putin won’t be there himself.A US official spoke after Mr Putin announced the Russian delegation for the talks,