The russian and Ukrainian delegations concluded their first face-to-face negotiations in over three years, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

"The meeting is over," said a source on the negotiations, which lasted just over 90 minutes. The attempt to end Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II appears, for now, to have failed.

The Ukrainian delegation described the demands as "unacceptable" and aimed at derailing the talks.

"The Russian representatives are presenting unacceptable demands that go beyond what was discussed before the meeting," including "the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from large parts of Ukrainian territory they control so that a ceasefire can be established," said a diplomatic source who wished to remain anonymous.

"It is very important that the ceasefire be implemented as soon as possible," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said earlier, adding that "every day of delay leads to new human casualties." He believes it is "very important" that these talks "form the basis" for a meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine.

However, hopes for a major breakthrough are slim, and Donald Trump himself has said that there will be no significant change in the situation until he meets Vladimir Putin in person.

Moscow insists it wants to address the "root causes" of the conflict and revive the failed 2022 negotiations, in which it made sweeping territorial and political demands on Ukraine.

In the 24 hours leading up to the talks, the two sides exchanged insults, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accusing Moscow of not being "serious" in its pursuit of peace.

Still, the fact that the meeting is happening is a sign of progress, as both sides have been under constant pressure from Washington to start talks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to travel to Turkey for the meetings he proposed and sent a second-tier delegation instead.

Zelensky criticized Russia for not taking the talks "seriously" by sending people who, in his view, do not have the authority to make decisions.

Both Moscow and Washington also stressed the need for a meeting between Putin and US President Donald Trump on the conflict.

"Contacts between Presidents Putin and Trump are extremely important in the context of resolving the Ukrainian conflict," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday, adding that "a meeting is undoubtedly necessary."

Trump said on Thursday that nothing would be decided until the two leaders met.

French President Emmanuel Macron, at a meeting of European leaders in Tirana, accused Russia of having "no desire" for a ceasefire in Ukraine. | BGNES