(ANSA-AFP) - ISTANBUL, MAY 16 - Delegations from Moscow and Kyiv are in Istanbul Friday, where they plan to hold their first direct peace talks since 2022, but the absence of presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky leaves little hope for progress in ending the war. Turkey said a tripartite meeting between Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish officials will take place at 12:30 pm local time (0930 GMT) at the Turkish presidency's Dolmabahce Palace. Turkish, US and Ukrainian officials are due to hold a meeting ahead of the talks, Ankara said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who landed in Istanbul Friday morning, had earlier downplayed expectations for the peace talks, after Moscow sent a low-profile delegation and both sides traded insults ahead of the negotiations, initially slated for Thursday. "I want to be frank... we don't have high expectations of what will happen tomorrow," Rubio said. US President Donald Trump had also appeared to concede that progress in Turkey was unlikely, saying there would be no movement towards ending the three-year war until he met Putin. "I don't believe anything's going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together," Trump told reporters on Air Force One. (ANSA-AFP).