Photo: Turkish Foreign Ministry / EPA-EFE

The first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine since 2022 have begun in the Turkish city of Istanbul, Russian state-affiliated news agency Interfax has reported.

The Russian delegation is headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, while the Ukrainian delegation is led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov. The parties have been talking for over an hour so far, with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan chairing the talks, state news agency TASS reported, despite Russia reportedly requesting to speak with Ukraine without mediators.

Fidan opened the talks by saying “We must seize this opportunity to move forward on the path to peace. Each day of delay causes more lives to be lost”, Türkiye Today reported.

Ahead of the talks, the Ukrainian delegation said it planned to discuss a ceasefire and a personal meeting between Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to Reuters.

A Ukrainian diplomatic source told Reuters that Russia’s demands in Istanbul are "unrealistic" and "go far beyond" anything previously discussed, but offered no further details so far.

Zelensky was in Ankara on Thursday for talks with Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan, amid hopes that Putin might make the journey to Türkiye himself. However, Zelensky left for Tirana for the sixth meeting of the European Political Community when Putin announced that he was sending a more junior delegation to meet representatives from Ukraine.

Earlier on Friday, the Ukrainian delegation held talks with representatives from the US and Türkiye at Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace, according to Turkish state news agency Anadolu. They also met with national security advisers from the UK, France and Germany, as well as Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg.

With expectations low that the talks will produce concrete results, US President Donald Trump said that he would need to meet Putin personally if the conflict was to find a resolution, according to state-owned news agency TASS.