Talks between Russia and Ukraine began at the Dolma Bahce Palace in Constantinople, Ukrainian television reported.

The two delegations sit across from each other at a large table for a meeting accompanied by extremely restrained expectations and great distrust of Moscow’s real intentions.

According to two sources cited by Reuters, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich is also taking part in the talks.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan received the delegations of the two countries this morning at the famous palace, where the Turkish presidency has an office.

In his speech, he pointed out that Russia and Ukraine have “legitimate concerns.”

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Addressing the negotiators, Erdogan added that the time had come for the talks to yield concrete results and called for an immediate ceasefire, noting that it was up to both sides to “put an end to this tragedy.”

Erdogan stressed the need to reach a ceasefire as soon as possible and spoke of the “historic responsibility” of the Moscow and Kiev delegations.

He praised the negotiators for their hard work and said that Putin and Zelensky were “valuable friends”.