BREAKING: Ukraine, Russia start peace talks in Turkey for first time since 2022

Editor's Note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

Ukrainian and Russian delegates started peace talks in Istanbul on May 16, marking the first direct negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow since 2022, Sky News and Russian state news agency TASS reported.

Turkish representatives, who are hosting the meeting, are expected to deliver a welcoming speech and then leave the venue, Russian news agency Interfax reported, citing a source.

The Ukrainian delegation plans to discuss a ceasefire deal and a potential future meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Sky News.

At the last minute, Kyiv accused Moscow of undermining the negotiations by requesting a separate meeting with Ukraine without Turkish or U.S. officials present, according to the outlet.

The discussion follows talks between Turkish, U.S., and Ukrainian officials earlier in the day, which included Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, President's Office chief Andriy Yermak, U.S Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Special Envoy Keith Kellogg, and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

After Moscow proposed to hold peace talks in Turkey this week, Zelensky agreed and invited Putin for a face-to-face meeting. The Russian leader declined to attend and appointed his aide, Vladimir Medinsky, to lead the talks.

"The Russians want to build associations with 2022. But all that is similar is the city of Istanbul. And nothing else," Yermak said on social media after the meeting started. "All Russian attempts to link today to 2022 will not work."

Russia presented the meeting as a continuation of the 2022 talks and stressed the need to address what it says are the war's "root causes." Moscow claims that Ukraine's NATO aspirations, as well as its language and minority laws, as the reasons behind its full-scale invasion of the country.

In turn, Kyiv and its allies have urged Moscow to adopt an unconditional ceasefire starting May 12 as the first step toward peace talks — a proposal Russia has rejected.

The Medinsky-led Russian delegation includes Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Military Intelligence Director Igor Kostyukov, and Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin. The list is notably void of top Russian politicians, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov or Putin's foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov.

Separate meetings among U.S. and Russian delegates also took place, though Rubio said he would not meet Moscow's representatives himself. Senior U.S. State Department official Michael Anton reportedly met Medinsky before the negotiations.

"We are ready for a complete and unconditional ceasefire, as we have previously said during meetings in Jeddah and Riyadh with our American partners," said Umerov, who participated in a meeting with European security advisors and U.S. Special Envoy Keith Kellogg earlier in the day.

"Peace is possible only if Russia shows a willingness to take concrete actions, including a complete ceasefire for at least 30 days and humanitarian steps, such as the return of forcibly deported Ukrainian children and an exchange of prisoners of war on an 'all-for-all' basis."

U.S. President Donald Trump initially voiced optimism about the meeting's prospects and suggested he might attend on May 16 if progress is made. He later downplayed the expectations, saying that progress is unlikely before he meets Putin.

"Nothing's going to happen until Putin and I get together," the U.S. president told journalists aboard Air Force One before landing in Dubai as part of his Middle Eastern tour.

Rubio said that the level of the Russian delegation is "not indicative of one that’s going to lead to a major breakthrough." Zelensky noted that Moscow appears to have dispatched a "sham delegation."

Trump has vowed to broker a swift peace deal between Russia and Ukraine but has increasingly voiced frustration with the stalled efforts, laying the blame both on Moscow and Kyiv.