ISTANBUL, Turkey, May 15, (AP): Russia's delegation arrived in Istanbul for peace talks with Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin was not part of the delegation, according to a list released by the Kremlin Wednesday night, prompting criticism from Western officials that Moscow isn't serious about the peace effort.

Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Putin, will lead the Russian delegation that will also include three other senior officials, the Kremlin said. Putin also appointed four lower-level officials as "experts” for the talks. Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy challenged the Russian leader to meet in person in Turkey. Zelenskyy said he would travel to Ankara, the Turkish capital, meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and wait for Putin.

Zelenskyy will sit at the table only with Putin, Ukraine’s presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said. Details about the Ukrainian delegation and whether they will meet their Russian counterparts are still unclear but is expected to be clarified after Zelenskyy and Erdogan meet, according to a Ukrainian official who requested anonymity to speak openly about the day’s plan.

Tass said that the talks were to take place in a presidential office on the Bosphorus. Putin on Wednesday evening held a meeting with senior government officials and members of the delegation in preparation for the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov, and National Security Council secretary Sergei Shoigu attended the meeting, among others. Kyiv and its European allies had urged the Kremlin to agree to a full, unconditional 30-day ceasefire as a first step toward peace.

Putin effectively rejected the proposal, offering direct talks between Russia and Ukraine instead. The Kremlin billed Thursday’s talks as a "restart” of peace negotiations that were held in Istanbul in the first weeks of the war in 2022 but quickly fell apart. Moscow accused Ukraine and the West of wanting to continue fighting, while Kyiv said Russia’s demands amounted to an ultimatum rather than something both sides could agree on. Russia's delegation then was also headed by Vladimir Medinsky.