US secretary of state arrives in Istanbul; delegation's mood reportedly "lacklustre"

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has landed in Istanbul, where multilateral talks on resolving the Russo-Ukrainian war are to take place, on the morning of 16 May.

Source: BBC journalist Tom Bateman, who arrived with Rubio

Details: The journalist noted that the mood of the American delegation was "pretty lacklustre".

Quote: "US officials would have liked to have been telling the boss that they’d got the meeting he wanted - a Trump-Putin summit. But it’s not happening. Instead Rubio’s heading to another meeting with senior Turkish and Ukrainian officials."

Background:

• Earlier, the Turkish state-owned news agency Anadolu published a schedule of planned meetings in Istanbul between delegations from Ukraine, the US, Türkiye and Russia.
• Russia has sent a low-level delegation led by Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky to the talks in Türkiye, which were initiated by Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.
• Defence Minister Rustem Umierov is heading the Ukrainian delegation. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed 12 people to the delegation in total.

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