In September 2022, Moscow claimed to have annexed the four Ukrainian regions and to this day it does not fully control them. Putin illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. Kyiv has repeatedly rejected any suggestion it would surrender the regions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia on Tuesday of delaying peace talks in a bid to pursue its three-year invasion, even as US President Donald Trump pushes for an immediate

President Volodymyr Zelensky's willingness to hold direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week in Istanbul sparked a question over whether such a move contradicts his earlier decree.

Referring to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Trump said the discussion will focus on "stopping the bloodbath."

After a two-hour-and-five-minute phone call today with President Trump, Vladimir Putin said he was ready to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine. But he also repeated his demand for broad concessions,

Trump has struggled to end a war that began with Russia's invasion in February 2022, making these conversations a serious test.