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US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he was much more confident of a deal to end the Ukraine war after talks that drew a strong rebuke from Kyiv over its exclusion.
Trump also suggested that he could meet President Vladimir Putin shortly as the United States overhauls its stance towards Russia in a shift that has alarmed European leaders.
At the talks in Riyadh, Russia and the United States agreed to establish teams to negotiate a path to ending the war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Trump said he was "much more confident" of a deal after the talks, adding "they were very good. Russia wants to do something. They want to stop the savage barbarianism."
"I think I have the power to end this war, and I think it's going very well," Trump said, chiding Ukraine for complaining it had been cut out of discussions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has slammed his nation's exclusion from the Riyadh gathering, which lasted more than four hours.
"I'm very disappointed, I hear that they're upset about not having a seat," Trump told reporters when asked what he would say to Ukrainians who feel "betrayed."
"Today I heard, oh, well, we weren't invited. Well, you've been there for three years... You should have never started it. You could have made a deal," he said.
Some European leaders fear Washington will make major concessions to Moscow and re-write the continent's security arrangement.
Asked if he would met Putin before the end of the month, Trump said "probably."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by News Agency staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)