Russia and Ukraine held talks in Turkiy on Thursday, although the prospects for the meeting of President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy were directly shattered by the Kremlin late Wednesday for the first time in three years.
According to U.S. officials, U.S. President Donald Trump has earlier stated that he may join the negotiations and will not participate.
Here is what we know about negotiations, what motivates them, who are expected to participate, and why negotiations are important:
Putin raised the idea of direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine between Turkuya on Sunday, rather than indirect negotiations between the United States and others attempting to mediate between neighbors in the war. Putin mentioned direct negotiations in 2022 when the recovery was resumed.
"It's not Russia that broke the negotiations in 2022. It's Kiev. Nevertheless, we propose that Kiev resume direct negotiations without any prerequisites," Putin said on Sunday.
In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Soon after, Russia and Ukraine held talks in Istanbul, the capital of Türkiye.
According to Zelenskyy, the negotiations collapsed as Russia demanded that Ukraine recognize the Donetsk region of Ukraine and the Donbas region of Luhansk region - a part of Russia's possession during the invasion. Zelenskyy added that Russia hopes Ukraine surrenders long-range weapons, makes a constitutional amendment to declare neutrality and greatly reduce its armed forces. Zelenskyy said at the time: "There has never been any negotiation; this is the last pass for the murderer."
Although Zelenskyy had earlier ruled that any peace agreement would require Russia to abandon the Ukrainian territory it occupied, in December last year, Zelenskyy said the "hot phase" of the war could end if NATO provides Ukraine's security assurances for Ukraine currently under Kiev's control.
He added that the return of land occupied by Russia could be negotiated later on.
"The pressure exerted by the United States has developed over time to end the Ukrainian battle," Keir Giles, a senior consulting researcher at the London-based Chatham House think tank, told Al Jazeera. "It seems that the latest elements of this evolution, especially in solidarity between Europe and Ukraine, have led to direct negotiations in Russia."
Putin's recent conversations are driven by the day after Ukraine's four major European allies gave Putin's last pass to accept an unconditional 30-day ceasefire or face unconditional resanctions. This time, the leaders of European countries, France, Britain, Germany and Poland visited Kiev.
They gave Putin a deadline until May 12. May 11, Putin, Putin - No promise of a ceasefire.
Negotiations were held in the Turkish city of Istanbul, spanning the border between Asia and Europe.
Four European leaders - Keir Starmer of Britain, Emmanuel Macron of France, Friedrich Merz of Germany and Donald Tusk of Poland - said they reported the last Russian atum to Trump by phone and suggested he be on the ship.
But after Putin called on Kiev and Moscow to conduct direct negotiations, Trump issued a statement on his truth social platform asking Ukraine to meet Russia "immediately".
Trump participated in the campaign for the 2024 election to quickly end the Ukrainian war’s promise. Starting in February, the Trump administration held several meetings in Saudi Arabia with representatives from Russia and Ukraine respectively to achieve the deal.
Also in April, the Trump administration said it was a step back from providing security assurances to Ukraine. The Trump administration said it hopes Europe will lead the way in supporting Ukraine’s defense, noting that the United States has other priorities, including border security.
However, in recent weeks, Trump and his team, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have been increasingly frustrated by the lack of meaningful progress in negotiations and have threatened to get rid of efforts to mediate peace.
Trump explained that he insisted that Ukraine participated in the May 15 talks in Istanbul, saying: "At least they will be able to determine whether a deal is possible, if not a deal, the European leader, the United States will know where everything is and can proceed accordingly!"
"I support President Trump's idea of direct negotiations with Putin. I publicly say I'm ready to meet. I will be in Turkiye. I hope the Russians won't escape the meeting."
Zelenskyy announced on Tuesday that he will be in Ankara on Thursday, where he will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. However, talks with Russia should be followed in Istanbul.
Trump said he would send Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, and special envoys from Ukraine and Russia to attend speeches in Istanbul.
Russia announced its team's participation in the meeting Wednesday night. Vladimir Medinsky, a closed Putin aide and former culture minister, will also hold a failed talk with Ukraine in 2022 and will lead the team in Moscow. Together with him will be the director of Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin and Igor Kostyukov, the main intelligence agency.
Trump's previous proposal to attend the talks was welcomed by Keefe. "If President Trump can be with us at this meeting in Turkiye, then everyone in Ukraine will thank it. That's the right idea. We can change a lot."
But late Wednesday, U.S. officials clarified that Trump would not attend.
He is currently spending Middle East time in Qatar after the U.S. president visited Saudi Arabia a day ago. Trump will be in the United Arab Emirates before returning to Washington on Thursday.
Zelenskyy had earlier said he would only attend the talks if Putin also attended the meeting. "Putin is the one who decides everything in Russia, so he is the one who has to settle the war. It's his war. So the negotiations should be with him."
With Putin no longer preparing to attend now, it is unclear whether Zelenskyy will attend the talks in person or whether he will leave it to his team for negotiations.
However, in many ways, Zelenskyy scored by throwing his gloves and asking the players he participated in.
"Zelenskyy presents a challenge to Russia that it has real interest; whether it is addressed or not, it depends on Russia."
Brazilian President Luis Inasio Lula da Silva also promised to urge Putin to attend the talks.
It's hard to predict what might be discussed specifically in Turkiye's conversation.
"It would be breach to predict whether there will be any meaningful discussion, as the acceptable outcomes of both are still far away," Giles said. "Russia wants to make Ukraine an independent sovereign state, and Ukraine wants to survive."
Currently, Ukraine has proposed an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, while Russia insists that it will accept a series of demands before joining such a truce. Moscow said it hopes to ensure the surveillance mechanism of the ceasefire and that Ukraine will not use a truce to rebuild and mobilize more soldiers. Instead, Putin has announced a brief unilateral ceasefire in recent days, with Ukraine saying Moscow never really sticking to it.
“We do not rule out that in these negotiations, there is a possibility of reaching a consensus on some new ceasefires, new ceasefires and real truces, which will not only be observed by Russia, but also by the Ukrainian side.
If negotiations happen, Giles said, “they will be an important step forward.”
"So far, anything called peace negotiations has not been like that," he added, describing two parallel discussions by the United States with Russia and Ukraine.
On March 19, the United States, Ukraine and Russia announced a 30-day ceasefire on the attacks on Russia and Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and on March 25 agreed to the Black Sea deal, halting the military use of commercial vessels and the use of force in the Black Sea. However, both parties attribute the blame to breach of the terms of these agreements, which are now expiring.