There’s been much speculation about what Russia wants from the peace talks, just beginning in Istanbul.

According to the financial times, Russia has dropped demands that Ukraine is “denazified” and is prepared to let it join the European Union as long as it is not militarily aligned.

The paper quotes four people close to the talks saying a possible deal would involve Ukraine abandoning its drive for Nato membership in exchange for security guarantees.

But it does not contain a discussion of three initial core Russian demands over denazification, demilitarisation or legal protection for the Russian language, the FT says.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said his county was not “trading people, land or sovereignty”, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said talks have so far not yielded substantial progress.