Russia has confirmed it will take part in peace talks with Ukraine later in Istanbul and said it expected the meeting would be “very difficult”.
“Indeed, our delegation has left for Istanbul, and talks are indeed scheduled for this evening… No one expects an easy road. It will be very difficult,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
This will be the third round of peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials and their first meeting in more than seven weeks amid US pressure to reach a ceasefire.
Expectations of a breakthrough are low.
Flags and portraits of killed Ukrainian soldiers form a makeshift memorial in Kyiv
The two sides previously met in May and June, but failed to agree an end to the nearly three-and-a-half year war.
The two sides have wildly different positions for ending the conflict.
Russia has called on Ukraine to effectively retreat from the four Ukrainian regions it claims to have annexed in September 2022, a demand Ukraine has called unacceptable.
A view of the damaged residential building after a KAB bomb attack in Kramatorsk
Ukraine has ruled out any negotiations on territory until after a ceasefire and says it will never recognise Russia’s claims over occupied territory – including Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Russia’s full-scale invasion, launched in February 2022, has ravaged parts of eastern and southern Ukraine and resulted in tens of thousands of military and civilian deaths.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he hoped the two sides would discuss the release of prisoners and prepare a meeting between himself and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Russia has said that “a lot of work” is needed before even discussions can take place about possible talks between Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky, who last met in 2019.
Fire crews inside a building after a Russian FPV drone strike in Kostiantynivka, Ukraine
Ukraine, Russia name delegation leads
Ukraine said former defence minister and current security council secretary Rustem Umerov would head its delegation.
The Kremlin said it would send political scientist Vladimir Medinsky to lead its negotiating team.
Mr Medinsky, who led the two previous rounds of negotiation, is not seen as a powerful decision maker and has been described by Ukraine as a puppet.
At the last talks on 16 May and 2 June, the two sides agreed to large-scale prisoner exchanges.
They also exchanged their draft terms for ending the conflict, which the Kremlin said were “diametrically opposed”.
The talks come after US President Donald Trump last week gave Russia “50 days” to strike a peace deal with Ukraine or face bruising sanctions.
Russia has intensified its bombardment of Ukrainian cities in recent weeks and claimed advances across several different areas of the front line.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month called on both sides not to “shut the door” on dialogue.
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