Putin skips peace talks on Ukraine in Turkey

+ Kremlin says Putin won't go, sends lower-level team

+ Not clear if and when talks will happen

+ Zelenskiy said he would only talk to Putin

Istanbul - Russian President Vladimir Putin sent aides and deputy ministers to hold peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey on Thursday, spurning Kyiv's challenge to go there in person to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Putin on Sunday proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul and Zelenskiy had said he would be waiting for the Kremlin leader.

But after keeping the world guessing for days about Putin's plans, the Kremlin late on Wednesday named a delegation that did not include the president.

It was unclear how Ukraine would respond. Zelenskiy, who was on his way to Turkey late on Wednesday, had said he was not prepared to talk to anyone but Putin, and goaded the Russian leader by questioning if he was brave enough to show up.

The Kremlin says Putin - who is also under threat of an additional tightening of European sanctions to "suffocate" Russia's economy - does not respond to ultimatums.

Russia's TASS news agency said talks in Istanbul would start at 0700 GMT, but a Ukrainian official dismissed that, saying there had been no agreement on when they might begin.

The two sides last held face-to-face talks - also in Istanbul - in March 2022, only weeks after Putin sent his army into Ukraine.

Both are trying to show U.S. President Donald Trump they are serious about peace, as he presses them to end what he calls "this stupid war". Washington has threatened repeatedly to abandon its diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict unless there is clear progress.

After leaning heavily on Ukraine and clashing with Zelenskiy at a meeting in the Oval Office in February, Trump has shown increasing impatience with Putin in recent weeks and threatened additional sanctions to hit Russian trade.

Trump, who is on a three-nation tour of the Middle East, had said he too might go to Turkey if Putin was there, but a U.S. official said this would not now happen.

The absence of the Russian and U.S. presidents lowers the expectations for a major breakthrough in the conflict, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Ron Popeski, Lidia Kelly, Olena Harmash and Moscow and Kyiv bureaus; Writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Michael Perry)