Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for the two countries to negotiate a cease-fire. RELATED: Pro-Ukraine protests continue amid ongoing Russian invasion https://bit.ly/3wIyMoE Russia and Ukraine began face-to-face talks Tuesday in Turkey as the United Nations pressed for a cease-fire for Russia's brutal invasion. The talks took place in the Turkish presidential office in Istanbul and lasted more than three hours, Russia's Tass reported. Alexander Fomin, Russia's deputy minister of defense, said the military cutbacks were made to improve conditions for the talks. Fomin said that “a decision was made to drastically reduce the military activity on the approaches to Kiev and Chernihiv.” On Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched an initiative to explore “a humanitarian cease-fire in Ukraine,” echoing Ukraine's urgent pleas. Guterres said he asked Undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths, the head of the U.N.’s worldwide humanitarian operations, to look into a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine. » Subscribe to USA TODAY: http://bit.ly/1xa3XAh » Watch more on this and other topics from USA TODAY: https://bit.ly/3L4uCLV » USA TODAY delivers current local and national news, sports, entertainment, finance, technology, and more through award-winning journalism, photos, videos and VR. #Ukraine #Russia #PeaceTalks