Donald Trump has taken aim at Ukraine after its President, Volodymyr Zelensky, said it was a “surprise” his country had not been invited to talks in Saudi Arabia on ending the war with Russia.
Saying he was “disappointed” by Ukraine’s reaction, he appeared to blame Ukraine for starting the war, saying the country “could have made a deal” earlier.
A full-scale Russian invasion sparked the war in Ukraine almost three years ago.
Earlier on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Riyadh for the first high-level, face-to-face talks between the two countries since the invasion, and agreed to appoint teams to start negotiating the end of the war.
Lavrov said his country would not accept peacekeeping forces from Nato countries in Ukraine under any peace deal, a proposal raised at a meeting of European members of Nato in Paris on Monday.
European Nato states, who remain committed to supporting Ukraine against Russia, have been smarting at being sidelined by Trump’s unilateral peace initiative, which reversed the resolutely pro-Ukraine policy of his predecessor as president, Joe Biden.
Following what he referred to as “the infamous meeting” – to which Ukraine was not invited either – Zelensky accused the Russian delegation in Riyadh of lying, adding that Russia could not be trusted and “must be pressured for peace”.
Trump also criticised the length of time since an election was held in Ukraine, when asked if the US would support Russian demands for one to be held.
He also claimed Zelensky – who won a five-year term in 2019 – was “down at 4% approval rating”.
Zelensky has remained in office while the country has been under martial law following the onset of the conflict. One opinion poll in December suggested 52% of Ukrainians surveyed said they “trust” Zelensky.
Meanwhile, when asked about the prospect of European countries sending troops to Ukraine, Trump said: “If they want to do that, that’s great, I’m all for it.”
However, he added of a potential US deployment of troops: “We won’t have to put any over there because, you know, we’re very far away.”
After Monday’s meeting in Paris, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said any Ukraine peace deal would require a “US backstop” to deter Russia from attacking its neighbour again.
Sir Keir said a “US security guarantee was the only way to effectively deter Russia”, and vowed to discuss the “key elements” of a peace deal with Trump in Washington next week.
Also at the talks in Riyadh were US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, as well as Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov and the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dmitriev.
Stressing that Moscow would not agree to peacekeeping forces from Nato countries in Ukraine under any peace deal, Lavrov said: “Any appearance by armed forces under some other flag does not change anything. It is of course completely unacceptable.”
He said the US and Russia would appoint ambassadors to each other’s countries as soon as possible and create conditions to “restore co-operation in full”.
He reiterated Russia’s previous position that any expansion of the Nato defence alliance – and Ukraine joining it – would be a “direct threat” to Russia.
Rubio for his part said he was “convinced” Russia was “willing to begin to engage in a serious process” to end the conflict.
Rubio said the European Union was going to “have to be at the table at some point because they have sanctions as well that have been imposed”.
On the absence of Ukraine at the meeting, he insisted “no-one is being sidelined”.
