France, May 15 -- A Russian delegation landed in Istanbul on Thursday for the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in more than three years, Russian state media reported, but without President Vladimir Putin as many world leaders had urged.

Putin was not included on a list of Moscow's negotiating team published by the Kremlin late Wednesday, after Zelensky challenged him to turn up in person to the talks.

Putin opted instead to send a lower-level team headed up by a hardline aide who oversaw the failed peace talks in March 2022 in the first weeks of Russia's invasion.

The absence of Putin- as well as any top diplomats like Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov or foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov- would seem to diminish the talks' importance ...