President Trump describes US-Russia negotiations as 'very good'.

According to RIA Novosti, US President Donald Trump described the talks between the Russian and American delegations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as "very good" and criticized Ukraine's stance.

"The negotiations are going very well. Russia wants to do something," President Trump said at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on February 18.

The American leader added that he was "much more confident" that an agreement to resolve the conflict in Ukraine was achievable.

The White House chief criticized the Kiev government for failing to seize the opportunity to resolve the conflict with Russia over the past three years. Trump also expressed disappointment that the conflict could not be resolved without causing territorial losses for Ukraine.

"It was once possible to reach an agreement that would have preserved virtually all of Ukraine's territory," Trump said.

The US president believes that Russia is capable of destroying 100% of Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, "very quickly," but Moscow has not wanted to do so.

Furthermore, President Trump supported the need to hold elections in Ukraine, pointing to the low level of support for Zelensky in that country.

"I want to say that, while Ukraine wants a seat at the negotiating table, there haven't been any elections in Kyiv for a long time, and Zelensky's approval rating has dropped to 4%," President Trump noted. He also pointed out that the issue of holding elections in Ukraine is not a demand from Russia, but a concern of many countries.

Trump complained that Washington had allocated more money to Kyiv than to its European allies and stressed the need for a fair distribution of financial obligations.

"We have to balance the contributions because Europe has contributed about $100 billion, while we've contributed over $300 billion," President Trump proposed, while also expressing concern about the lack of transparency in reporting on the use of funds allocated to Ukraine.

On February 18, talks between Russian and American delegations took place in Riyadh, lasting 4.5 hours. The two sides discussed bilateral relations, resolving the situation in Ukraine, and preparing for a meeting between the leaders of the two countries.

The Russian side was represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, while the US side was represented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Special Envoy for the Middle East Stephen Witkoff.

Amidst the Russia-US talks in Riyadh, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he had canceled his planned visit to Saudi Arabia today (February 19). According to the Ukrainian leader, he did not want anything decided behind his back. Zelensky noted that Ukraine was not invited to the meeting of the Russian and US delegations, and that this was a surprise to Kyiv.