Istanbul, 16 May 2025 (dpa/MIA) - The negotiations for an end to the Ukraine war between Ukrainian and Russian envoys are expected to get under way in Istanbul on Friday after being postponed from the previous day.

The first direct meeting between the two countries in three years is set to take place with Turkish representatives, sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara said on Thursday evening.

Trilateral talks are planned between the United States, Ukraine and Turkey, as well as between Russia, Ukraine and Turkey, according to the ministry sources.

Whether there will be a four-party meeting between the US, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey has not yet been decided, they said. The US delegation is led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would not be attending the talks in protest at his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin refusing to take part.

The Russian Foreign Ministry rejected criticism that Moscow has only sent a second-tier delegation.

The Russian delegation's chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, is considered by the West as a political lightweight and was also involved in the fruitless negotiations in 2022 shortly after the war began.

Zelensky is sending a team of 12, led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov. All other negotiators are deputy heads of intelligence services, senior staff officers and an adviser to the head of the presidential office.

The aim of the talks is to achieve a "just and lasting peace," it was stated in Kiev. The specific directives are classified.

The Crimean Tatar Umerov had already participated in negotiations with Russia shortly after the now three-year long war began, but not as a minister, rather as a simple lawmaker.