RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin did not attend proposed direct peace talks with his Ukrainian opposite number Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey today, casting doubt on the prospects for peace. 

Mr Zelensky challenged Mr Putin to meet him face-to-face in Ankara this week to discuss ending Russia’s three-year invasion of Ukraine, but the Russian leader did not confirm whether he would attend.

A Russian delegation was in Istanbul today, but it was unclear whether the sides would meet for their first such talks since March 2022, following Russia’s invasion the previous month.

Mr Zelensky said Moscow’s delegation appeared to be merely “a theatre prop.”

Speaking at the airport in Ankara, he said the next steps for talks would be decided after his forthcoming meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who welcomed Mr Zelensky with an honour guard at the presidential palace.

Mr Putin’s absence punctured hopes of a breakthrough in peace efforts that were given a push in recent months by the US government. It also raised the prospect of intensified international sanctions against Russia, as have been threatened by the West.

The war has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides and more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations, and continues along a roughly 620-mile front line.

“Now, after three years of immense suffering, there is finally a window of opportunity,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at a Nato meeting taking place separately in the Turkish city of Antalya. “The talks … hopefully may open a new chapter.”

The foreign ministers of alliance members debated the US demand to massively ramp up military spending to 5 per cent of GDP over the next seven years.

Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said that more investment and military equipment were needed to deal with the threat posed by Russia and terrorism, but also by China.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has claimed that the US demand for increased military spending aims to boost “the capabilities that are needed for the threats of the 21st century.”

Meanwhile, Mr Rutte said that the Nato Support and Procurement Agency was co-operating with a cross-border police probe into corruption and fraud allegations involving the purchase of military equipment.

Belgian prosecutors said on Wednesday that two suspects in Flanders had been taken in for questioning over the allegations. One was arrested and the other released.