UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelensky said today that he will wait for Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the Turkish capital this week to conduct face-to-face talks aimed at ending the more than three-year war.

The initiative comes amid growing pressure from the United States to reach a negotiated settlement.

Speaking in Kiev, Mr Zelensky said that he would arrive in Ankara Thursday to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and would wait for Mr Putin to join the negotiations.

“I will do everything to agree on a ceasefire, because it is with [Mr Putin] that I must negotiate a ceasefire — as only he can decide on it,” Mr Zelensky told reporters.

He said that if Mr Putin prefers to meet in Istanbul instead, both leaders would travel there.

Russia has so far refused to confirm whether Mr Putin will attend the talks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined for the second consecutive day to say whether the Russian president would travel to Istanbul or who might represent Russia at the potential summit.

“As soon as the president considers it necessary, we will make an announcement,” Mr Peskov said.

Russia has stated that it is willing to send a delegation to Istanbul without preconditions.

Mr Zelensky said that if Mr Putin fails to attend the meeting, European and US leaders must follow through on their threats of imposing stronger sanctions on Moscow.

It came as Russia launched what Ukraine described as its smallest drone bombardment of the year, deploying 10 Shahed and decoy drones overnight.