Russia and Ukraine to hold their first direct peace talks in 3 years amid low expectations

ISTANBUL Turkey AP Russia and Ukraine are due to hold their first direct peace talks in three years Friday gathering in Istanbul for Turkish-brokered negotiations but leaders and observers expect them to yield little immediate progress on stopping the more than -year war A Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov was due to meet with a low-level Russian unit headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky The latest push to end the fighting got off to a rocky start on Thursday when Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned an offer by Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet face-to-face Delegations from the two countries also flew to different Turkish cities and put together teams of significantly different diplomatic heft for manageable talks Although expectations for a viable Putin-Zelenskyy meeting were low the apparent lack of traction in peace efforts frustrated hopes of bold approaches being taken in Turkey toward reaching a settlement The two sides are far apart in their conditions for ending the war and U S President Donald Trump explained Thursday during a trip to the Middle East that a meeting between himself and Putin was crucial to developing the deadlock On Friday Trump mentioned a meeting with Putin would happen as soon as we can set it up I think it s time for us to just do it Trump informed reporters in Abu Dhabi Ukraine has accepted a U S and European proposal for a full -day ceasefire but Putin has effectively rejected it by imposing far-reaching conditions Meantime Russian forces are preparing a fresh military offensive Ukrainian ruling body and Western military analysts say Russia s invasion has killed more than Ukrainian civilians the U N says and razed towns and villages Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have died and likely a larger number of Russian troops leaders and analysts say A Friday morning drone attack on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk killed a -year-old woman and wounded four men Oleh Syniehubov head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration announced All the sufferers worked for a municipal utility After Putin didn t take up Zelenskyy s challenge to sit down with him in the Turkish capital on Thursday the Ukrainian president accused Moscow of not making a serious effort to end the war by sending a low-level negotiating club that he described as a theater prop Even so Zelenskyy revealed that he was sending a crew headed by his defense minister to Friday s meeting in Istanbul That would show Trump that Ukraine is determined to press ahead with peace efforts despite Russian foot-dragging Zelenskyy declared amid intense diplomatic maneuvering by Kyiv and Moscow The Russian delegation also includes three other senior authorities the Kremlin reported Putin also appointed four lower-level agents as experts for the talks A senior Ukrainian official commented Kyiv s delegation had a real mandate to engage in substantive talks while casting doubt on Russia s readiness to negotiate in good faith Everything depends on whether Russians are ready and have the necessary mandate or is this just Putin sending low-level representatives in order to stall the process the official announced on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks We will discover this very soon when delegations meet A flurry of diplomatic activity took place in Istanbul before the talks Ukrainian agents held an early-morning meeting with national assurance advisers from the United States France Germany and the United Kingdom to coordinate positions a senior Ukrainian official explained The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter The U S gang was led by retired Lt Gen Keith Kellogg Trump s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia while Umerov and presidential office chief Andriy Yermak represented Ukraine the official reported A three-way meeting between Turkey the U S and Ukraine also took place Turkish Foreign Ministry administrators declared The U S side included Secretary of State Marco Rubio as well as Kellogg Rubio on Thursday disclosed he didn t foresee major developments in Istanbul We don t have high expectations of what will happen the next morning And frankly at this point I think it s abundantly clear that the only way we re going to have a breakthrough here is between President Trump and President Putin Rubio explained reporters Thursday in Antalya Turkey Zelenskyy meantime flew to Albania to attend a meeting Friday of the leaders of European countries to discuss measure defense and democratic standards against the backdrop of the war