Delegations from Russia and Ukraine arrived in Turkey for the first direct face-to-face peace talks in more than three years, though the teams will be composed of lower-level technocrats after President Vladimir Putin stayed home.

The delegations are scheduled to meet on May 15 at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul and will be held in private without press access.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told reporters during an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in the southern Turkish city of Antalya that both sides need to "compromise" to forge a path to peace.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, arrived in Ankara even though Putin decided against traveling to the talks. Zelenskyy will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Turkish capital but will not attend the peace talks in Istanbul.

"We will consider what to do and what steps to take after we speak with President Erdogan. I think we will have several hours for an important conversation and to make very important decisions," Zelenskyy told journalists upon his arrival.

"We need to understand the level of the Russian delegation, what its mandate is, and whether they are capable of making any decisions themselves.... Because we all know who makes the decisions in Russia," he added, describing the Russian delegation as "decorative."

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Zelenskyy earlier challenged Putin to meet him in Turkey and the lack of a face-to-face meeting between the two dashed hopes for a potential major breakthrough in efforts to pause, or halt fighting in Europe's largest conflict since World War II.

Expectations that US President Donald Trump would also attend the talks were dashed when aKremlin statementsaid Putin signed an order on May 14 naming four negotiators and four experts who will comprise the Russian delegation.

Trump, who is in the region on a four-day visit to several Middle Eastern countries, had said he would go if that persuaded Putin to participate. US media reported that envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg are still expected to be in Istanbul.

When asked if Putin would go to Istanbul if Trump did, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was "premature to say what kind of participation will be required and at what level" as Russia did not know yet how the negotiations would go.

"The ball now is clearly in Russias court. The Russians are sending a low lever delegation and not taking up the opportunity President Zelenskyy has been providing," NATO Chief Mark Rutte said at the military alliance's meeting in Turkey.

"Ukraine is clearly ready to play ball. But that ball is now in the Russian court and I am really thankful for the fact that the United States is laser focused, the President and his whole foreign policy team including Marco Rubio on bringing peace to Ukraine."

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The Kremlin statement said Deputy Defense Minister Aleksandr Fomin, who took part in talks held between the two sides in the weeks following Moscow's full-scale invasion in February 2022, will be among the negotiators.

The delegationwill be led byVladimir Medinsky, an aide to Putin who also took part in the last round of talks more than three years ago.

Medinsky is seen as influential in advancing Russia's historical claims over large portions of Ukraine and has written textbooks with a nationalist view of Russian history that has been questioned by independent historians.

Igor Kostyukov, director of the Main Intelligence Directorate, is also named as a negotiator. Kostyukov was identified in the Kremlin announcement as chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

Negotiators held several rounds of talks in March 2022 in Belarus and in Turkey before the negotiations broke down.

Zelenskyy had said he was prepared to meet Putin face-to-face after the Russian leader called for direct talks. Zelenskyy also has said he would only meet the Russian leader, not a delegation of officials from Moscow.

Putin proposed direct negotiations "without any preconditions."

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There had been skepticism over the chances for success at the talks even before the news that neither Putin nor Trump would attend.

Lithuanian Ambassador to Sweden Linas Linkevicius told Current Time that while everyone wants a breakthrough, he doesn't see grounds for one because the starting positions held by all the parties are vastly different.

"There is no talk about Ukraine's interests, about [Russia's] legal responsibility, which is important because all those crimes committed by that country and its leader," Linkevicius said. "You cannot just push it all aside and pretend that we are just doing business from now on."

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Linkevicius also predicted Russia would lecture about the "root causes" of the conflict and once they are addressed might talk about some sort of a cease-fire.

"In other words, there will be no cease-fire again," he said. "They will drag their feet to buy time and in my opinion prepare for a summer military campaign."

Russian independent political scientist Natalia Shavshukova told Current Time that Putin's real motivation was only to meet the US president.

"Putin's only interest is a direct meeting with Trump.... And Ukraine has become an excuse for the two leaders to meet," Shavshukova said, adding Putin doesn't appear interested in making a peace deal with Ukraine at the moment.

In an interview with Le Monde, Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president's office, said Putin's absence in Turkey on May 15 signals that "Moscow does not want peace and is not ready for serious negotiations."

"We don't trust Russia.... But we want to end this conflict, and we are ready to accept any negotiation format," Yermak told Le Monde.