Rubio meets top Turkey, Ukraine officials ahead of war talks 

ISTANBUL, May 16: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was meeting with top Turkish and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul Friday, ahead of the first direct Russia-Ukraine talks in three years, officials on both sides said.

Rubio had on Thursday played down hope of progress at the meeting, saying "we don't have high expectations," but has nonetheless flown in to throw his weight behind the effort.

After landing in Turkey's largest city, Rubio went straight into talks at Dolmabahce Palace with his Turkish and Ukrainian counterparts, Hakan Fidan and Andriy Sybiga, respectively.
Also present at the meeting were Washington's envoy to Turkey Tom Barrack and the US envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg as well as Ukraine's presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, a Turkish foreign ministry source said.

Official photos from the meeting showed that Turkey's spy chief Ibrahim Kalin was also present as was its former Moscow envoy, Mehmet Samsar.

Rubio himself was not expected to join the peace talks.

A source at Turkey's foreign ministry had initially said the Russia-Ukraine talks would begin at 0930 GMT, although other officials said the exact timings appeared to be in flux. �"AFP