Putin's absence expressed doubts about peace talks in Tukuye, which raised concerns about potentially strengthening sanctions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he will send his first direct talks with the Russian delegation led by his defense minister since the full Russian invasion in 2022.

The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had no intention of meeting in Tukiy, but sent a junior delegation, which Zelenskyy announced on Thursday after Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said the move was "like a slap in the face".

The Ukrainian president said at a press conference in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, that the Russian delegation did not include "anyone who actually made the decision", accusing Moscow of not working to end the war.

He said the Ukrainian delegation would be led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, whose purpose is to "at least try the first step of downgrading, which is the first step to end the war, a ceasefire."

It is not clear when the delegation will meet.

Al Jazeera's Sinem Koseoglu reported in front of the Ukrainian Embassy in Ankara that Zelenskyy chose a delegation that "balances" with the Russians.

"He said they don't mind taking the first step towards an immediate ceasefire necessary for direct peace talks," she said.

However, “there is no negotiation, Zelenskyy stressed that even his delegation did not decide anything. So tomorrow could be a technical negotiation between the two delegations,” she added.

U.S. President Trump urged Putin and Zelenskyy to meet face to face in Istanbul, but he refuted Putin's absence in negotiations.

"Until Russian President Vladimir Putin got together with me, okay?" Trump said in the Air Force, just before the third stop of his trip to the Middle East landed in Dubai. “I don’t think Putin would be able to go if I weren’t there.”

Putin's absence is hopeful for a breakthrough in the ceasefire effort, which the Trump administration and Western European leaders have driven in recent months in strong manipulation. It also raises the prospect of intensifying Russian sanctions against Russia under threat from the West.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed Zelenskyy at the Ankara Presidential Palace before the two met.

"Now, after three years of great pain, there is finally a window of opportunity," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at a NATO meeting held separately in Turkey. "Negotiation... hopefully opens a new chapter."