MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian negotiators are flying to Turkey for the first peace talks with Ukraine in more than seven weeks, Russian news agencies reported on Wednesday.
State agency TASS said talks would take place later on Wednesday in Istanbul.
Data from tracking site Flightradar24 showed the plane used by Russian delegation chief Vladimir Medinsky to fly to previous talks in Istanbul had taken off from Moscow.
The warring sides held two previous rounds of talks in Istanbul, on May 16 and June 2, that led to the exchange of thousands of prisoners of war and the remains of dead soldiers.
But they have made no breakthrough towards a ceasefire or a settlement to end almost three and a half years of war.
U.S. President Donald Trump last week threatened heavy new sanctions on Russia and countries that buy its exports unless a peace deal was reached within 50 days.
But three sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters that Putin, unfazed by Trump’s ultimatum, would keep on fighting in Ukraine until the West engaged on his terms for peace, and that his territorial demands may widen as Russian forces advance.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Mark Trevelyan and Gleb Stolyarov; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
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