Istanbul - Russia and Ukraine spin in amid high-risk peace talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday as the Kremlin confirmed Putin himself would skip the talks.

In the chaos of start date, location and whether to participate, in the chaos scenes of Ankara, the Turkish capital, Antalya and Istanbul, there were about 200 journalists and crew outside the Ottoman-era Dormaba Palace, without clear conversations to negotiate.

The back and forth between Kiev, Moscow and the Trump administration has brought hopes of the U.S. president to involve a tee meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

When asked Thursday whether Putin would attend talks in Turkey, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN "No."

After Ukrainian allies including Germany, France and the United Kingdom, Putin proposed negotiations, proposing the last pass to Moscow to accept a ceasefire proposal or face other sanctions.

The Russian leader’s unshowed will further compete with the White House, which has significantly changed its tone during the war in the past few weeks. Even after his historic Oval Office yelled with Zelenskyy, Vice President JD Vance shifted his accusation of Moscow of “too much”, amid bilateral peace talks, senior Trump administration officials held a meeting with Russia in recent weeks.

This is partly because Trump’s major plight with Ukraine (most of U.S. taxpayers fund Ukraine’s defense) soothe European taxpayers’ defense after the two countries reached a mineral deal that would somehow repay U.S. military aid.

Zelenskyy also showed compliance, supporting Trump's call for an immediate ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.

Trump has said he would "always consider" additional sanctions on Russia if Moscow believes Moscow blocks the peace process, and officials have also recommended secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil.

Zelenskyy landed in Ankara on Thursday after hearing calls from Trump to accept Putin’s initial proposal for Sunday’s talks.

This is not joining the talks originally held for Istanbul, which the Kremlin said late Wednesday, rather than Putin, or even Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, but sending a relatively young team led by Kremlin-language assistant Vladimir Medinsky.

"It may change a lot this week, but it's only May, I'm waiting to see who comes from Russia and then I'll decide what steps Ukraine should take," Zelenskyy said in a post on Wednesday X.

“So far, the signals in the media are convincing,” he added.

While the Kremlin's last-minute naming of the junior team does not eliminate Ukraine and Europe's allegations that Putin has not taken Trump's attempts to be peacefully broker, the Russian delegation of Maria Zakharova in Istanbul on Thursday was "ready for serious work."

Apart from the uncertainty over whether Ukraine will send a scaled-down delegation in Istanbul, Kiev and Moscow, it seems that it does not agree at the beginning of the negotiations.

Keir Simmons of Istanbul reported on Hong Kong.