Trump-Putin summit preparations underway, Russia says

Speaking to Russian state media, Sergei Ryabkov said a possible Putin-Trump summit could involve broad talks on global issues, not just the war in Ukraine.

"The question is about starting to move toward normalising relations between our countries, finding ways to resolve the most acute and potentially very, very dangerous situations, of which there are many, Ukraine among them," he said.

But he said efforts to organise such a meeting are at an early stage, and that making it happen will require "the most intensive preparatory work".

Ryabkov added that US and Russian envoys could meet within the next two weeks to pave the way for further talks among senior officials. 

Russian and US representatives meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday agreed to start working toward ending the war in Ukraine and improving their diplomatic and economic ties, an extraordinary about-face in US foreign policy under Trump.

Senior US officials have suggested Ukraine will have to give up its goals of joining NATO and retaining the 20 per cent of its territory seized by Russia.

After the meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told The Associated Press the two sides agreed broadly to pursue three goals: to restore staffing at their respective embassies; to create a high-level team to support Ukraine peace talks; and to explore closer relations and economic co-operation.

He stressed, however, that the talks, which were attended by his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, and other senior Russian and US official, marked the beginning of a conversation, and more work needs to be done. Lavrov, for his part, hailed the meeting as "very useful". 

No Ukrainian officials were present at the Saudi meeting, which came as their beleaguered country is slowly but steadily losing ground against more numerous Russian troops, nearly three years after Moscow launched an all-out invasion of its smaller neighbour. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country would not accept any outcome from the talks since Kyiv didn't take part, and postponed his own trip to Saudi Arabia scheduled for last Wednesday. European allies have also expressed concerns that they are being sidelined.

Trump on Friday appeared to walk back his earlier comments falsely blaming Kyiv for starting the war, but insisted that Zelenskyy and former US President Joe Biden should have done more to come to terms with Putin. 

"Russia attacked, but they shouldn't have let him attack," he said during a radio interview with Brian Kilmeade of Fox News, referring to the Russian leader. 

Russia's army crossed the border on February 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was needed to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO.

Later on Friday, at the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that the war "doesn't affect the United States very much. It's on the other side of the ocean. It does affect Europe".

Last week he referred to Zelenskyy as a "Dictator without Elections" who "talked the USA into spending $350 billion to go into a War that couldn't be won".

Thousands of people waving blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags marched to the Russian Embassy in London on Saturday, demanding Ukraine be given more support and a place at the table in talks to end the three-year war.

Protesters chanted "Trump you're no friend, you're a traitor to Ukraine." Organisers called for the withdrawal of Russian troops and increased military aid to strengthen Kyiv's hand.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is due to visit Washington next week for talks focused on Ukraine. He has stressed that no decisions about the country's future can be made without Kyiv's involvement.

Starmer spoke to Zelenskyy on Saturday and reiterated "the UK's ironclad support for Ukraine and commitment to securing a just and enduring peace to bring an end to Russia's illegal war," the prime minister's office said.