ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks in three years Friday, gathering in Istanbul for Turkish-brokered negotiations, but officials and observers expected them to yield little immediate progress on stopping the more than three-year war.

Delegations from Ukraine and Russia came face to face for talks for the first time since March 2022 – one month after Moscow invaded its neighbour. The setting was an Ottoman- era palace on the shores of the Bosphorus in Istanbul.