The Russian president had been challenged by Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky to meet in person at the talks on Thursday.

The talks took place in the warring capitals of Moscow and Kyiv, from Washington and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to countries across Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending the peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow in Turkey that he proposed. Meanwhile, the EU had unveiled new sanctions targeting Russia's "shadow" fleet.