By Tom Balmforth and Vladimir Soldatkin ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a second-tier team of negotiators to hold peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey on Thursday, spurning Kyiv's challenge to go there in person to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t show up Thursday for proposed direct peace talks in Turkey with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was waiting for Putin in the capital Ankara after challenging him to face-to-face discussions on ending their countries’ more than three-year war.