Ukraine war live: Russian team a ‘theatre prop’, says Zelenskyy as Putin fails to attend Turkish talks

Volodymyr Zelenskyy challenged Putin to meet him in person in Istanbul, but the Russian president will skip the talks

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to meet Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday and after that will make a decision on talks with Russia in Istanbul, a Ukrainian official has told Reuters.

The Ukrainian president had previously proposed a face-to-face meeting in Turkey between himself and his Russian counterpart.