Ukraine and Russia could be close to reviving direct peace talks for the first time since the last face-to-face discussions ended three years ago, but a pair of high-profile absences from the delegation list could sink negotiations before they begin.
On the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed direct talks with Ukraine in the Turkish city of Istanbul for this week, "without any preconditions", while dismissing a proposal from European leaders for an immediate ceasefire.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy initially said he would attend the talks, challenging Putin to meet in person for the first time since 2019 to participate in face-to-face discussions.
Who's out?
The major absences from the talks are Putin, United States President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy travelled to Türkiye but later said he wouldn't attend the talks themselves following Putin and Trump declining to show.
Russia's delegation list, released on Thursday, did not include Putin. Shortly after the announcement, a US official said Trump would not attend either.
Trump had earlier floated the idea of mediating if Putin attended.
"I don't know that he [Putin] would be there if I'm not there," Trump told reporters during his Middle East visit on Wednesday.
Zelenskyy said Putin's decision not to attend showed the Russian leader was not serious about ending the war, and that he felt "disrespect" from Russia.
Zelenskyy said he would also now not go to Istanbul but would send a team.
While Putin had never confirmed he would attend in person, the absence of the Russian and US presidents lowers the expectations for a major breakthrough in the war that started in February 2022.
There had also been unconfirmed Russian and US media reports that said Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy aide, would be in Istanbul and ready to meet their Ukrainian counterparts.
Both have previously taken part in discussions between Russia and the US in Saudi Arabia. But both names were absent from the delegation list.
Who's in?
With Zelenskyy choosing not to attend the talks himself, his defence minister Rustem Umierov will head up Ukraine's delegation.
Russia's delegation is set to include Vladimir Medinsky, a hardline aide to Putin and ex-culture minister, along with deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin. Both took part in the last set of negotiations in 2022.
Medinsky is considered influential in advancing Russia's historical claims over swathes of Ukraine and has written textbooks advancing a nationalist view of Russian history that has been questioned by independent historians.
Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky is part of the delegation that will attend talks in Türkiye. Source: AAP / Artyom Geodakyan/TASS/Sipa USA
A US delegation, meanwhile, includes secretary of state Marco Rubio along with senior envoys Kellogg and Steve Witkoff.
What could be discussed?
Trump wants the two sides to sign up to a 30-day ceasefire to pause Europe's biggest land war since World War Two, and a Russian politician said on Wednesday there could also be discussions about a huge prisoner of war exchange.
Zelenskyy backs an immediate 30-day ceasefire, but Putin has said he first wants to start talks in which the details of such a ceasefire could be discussed.
The fundamental differences between the two countries are far from being resolved.
Russia insists talks need to address what it says are the "root causes" of the conflict, including the "denazification" and demilitarisation of Ukraine, two vague terms Russia has used to justify the invasion.
It has also repeated Ukraine must cede its territory occupied by Russian troops.
Ukraine said it won't recognise its territories as Russian, though Zelenskyy has acknowledged Ukraine might have to use diplomatic means to get them back.
Direct talks between negotiators from Ukraine and Russia last took place in Istanbul in March 2022, a month after Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in what he calls a "special military operation" to root out neo-Nazis.
Ukraine and its allies say the invasion was an unprovoked, imperial-style land grab.
What next?
Earlier this week, Zelenskyy said the West should impose massive sanctions if Putin skips the meeting.
Both French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, two top European Union leaders, warned Russia there would be new sweeping sanctions if no substantial progress is reached in Türkiye this week.
