Russia and Ukraine are set to hold their first direct peace talks in three years, but hopes for a breakthrough remained dim after Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned an offer by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet face-to-face in Turkey.

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov is in North Korea for talks with its military and political leaders.

Russian authorities have arrested a second senior Defense Ministry official on bribery charges days after President Vladimir Putin replaced the defense minister in a Cabinet shake-up.

Over the weekend, President Vladimir Putin replaced Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu — the longest serving member of his Cabinet at 11 1/2 years — in a rare Kremlin shake-up that came even as a Russian offensive in Ukraine is making gains.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has replaced Sergei Shoigu as defense minister in a Cabinet shakeup that comes as he begins his fifth term in office.