War in Ukraine: Russian delegation arrives in Istanbul, NATO chief says he is "cautiously optimistic"

It is up to Russia to take "the next steps" in negotiations with Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Thursday.

"The ball is clearly in Russia's court," he said upon arriving in Antalya, Turkey, for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Thursday he was " cautiously optimistic " about a possible breakthrough in the Ukraine negotiations within two weeks.

" I remain cautiously optimistic that if the Russians are willing to play the game, and not just the Ukrainians, they do, (...) progress could be made over the next two weeks ," he said upon arriving in Antalya, Turkey, for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

Talks on Ukraine are scheduled to begin in Istanbul on Thursday around 10:00 a.m. local time (9:00 a.m. in France) and will be held behind closed doors for the press, the Russian news agency TASS reported on Thursday, citing a source familiar with the discussions.

According to TASS, the negotiations will take place at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul.

Since the beginning of the invasion, Vladimir Putin has maintained maximalist demands. He has repeated that the settlement process must address the "root causes" of the conflict, first and foremost Ukraine's desire to join NATO , and has also called for the annexation of four regions in southern and eastern Ukraine that it partially controls (Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia) and the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014.

In Ukraine, however, the issue of territorial concessions is highly divisive. Ukraine continues to demand the complete withdrawal of all Russian troops from its territory. And Volodymyr Zelensky publicly maintains that Kyiv will not cede Crimea, as the Ukrainian constitution stipulates that it is part of its territory. More broadly, Volodymyr Zelensky calls on his allies to provide "security guarantees" to Ukraine to deter Russia from invading again after a peace agreement is reached.

In the absence of Vladimir Putin , Volodymyr Zelensky 's presence at the Istanbul talks is anything but assured. The Ukrainian head of state has already announced that he will be in Ankara on Thursday to meet with his Turkish counterpart , Recep Tayyip Erdogan . Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiga, for his part, announced on Tuesday that he would be traveling to Antalya, in southwest Turkey, where the NATO foreign ministers' meeting is taking place at the same time.

On the other hand, the Russian delegation, revealed Wednesday evening by the Kremlin, is smaller. It will be led by presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, and Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin. At this stage, US Foreign Minister Marco Rubio is expected in Istanbul on Friday, according to a senior State Department official, also leaving the exact date of the discussions unclear.

Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected in Istanbul, Turkey, on Thursday for their first direct talks since spring 2022, although the details of the meeting, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to attend , remain unclear at this stage. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had challenged his Russian counterpart to attend the meeting on Thursday, saying he would be willing to meet with him if he did.

But the Russian head of state's name does not appear on the list of participants published Wednesday evening by the Kremlin, which kept the composition of its delegation secret almost until the end. These discussions had, moreover, been initially announced by the Russian leader, at a time when the United States is increasing its pressure to launch a diplomatic process to find a solution to the conflict.

Hello and welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to the war in Ukraine. Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected in Istanbul, Turkey, today to hold their first direct talks since spring 2022.