Sawt Falasteen - Trump and Putin set to meet in Saudi Arabia on Ukraine

In their first confirmed contact since Trump's return to the White House, the US president said he had held a "lengthy and highly productive" conversation with the Russian counterpart who ordered the bloody 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Trump, who has been pushing for a quick end to the nearly three-year war, also denied that Ukraine was being left out in the cold by the direct negotiations between the two nuclear-armed superpowers.

"We expect that he'll come here, and I'll go there -- and we're going to meet probably in Saudi Arabia the first time," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office about his plans to meet Putin.

Trump said he expected it to happen "in the not too distant future" and added that Saudi Crown Prince Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- who played a key role in a Russia-US prisoner exchange this week -- would also be involved.

The Kremlin said the call lasted nearly one-and-a-half hours. Putin and Trump had agreed that the "time has come to work together" and that the Russian leader has invited his US counterpart to Moscow, it said.

Republican Trump had previously promised to end the Ukraine war "within 24 hours" before taking office on January 20.

- 'Make peace' -

Trump took the world by surprise as he announced the call on his Truth Social network earlier, saying they had "both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine," using an unconfirmed figure for the toll in the conflict.

The US president said he and Putin had agreed to "work together very closely, including visiting each other's Nations" and to "have our respective teams start negotiations immediately" on Ukraine.

Trump later called Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not included on the call with Putin.

Zelensky said afterwards that he had a "meaningful" call with Trump in which he had "shared details" of his talks with Putin.

Trump said after the conversation that Zelensky "like President Putin, wants to make PEACE."

But the move sparked concerns that Ukraine will be left out of talks on its own fate.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth told European counterparts earlier Wednesday that Ukraine's dream of returning to its pre-2014 borders was an "illusionary goal" -- and that Kyiv's wish for NATO membership was "not realistic."

Both are key demands of Moscow.

Trump denied that Zelensky was being frozen out, and rejected criticism that Hegseth's comments meant Washington was agreeing to Russia's preconditions.

He added that NATO membership for Ukraine was "impractical."

The Ukrainian leader is calling for tough security guarantees from Washington as part of any deal with Russia. Trump has meanwhile suggested a deal for Kyiv's rare earth minerals in exchange for its continued military aid.

- 'Root causes' -

Zelensky is due to meet US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday at the Munich Security Conference, after meeting US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Kyiv on Wednesday.

The Kremlin's statement on the call with Trump was more measured.

It said Putin "agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be reached through peace negotiations" but said he wanted to "address the root causes of the conflict," which Russian blames on western influence on Kyiv.

There had been signs of a thaw this week with a prisoner swap deal that saw Moscow free US teacher Marc Fogel and Belarus release a US citizen, while Washington released Russian cryptocurrency kingpin Alexander Vinnik.

Trump has previously expressed admiration for Putin and heaped praise on the Russian president in his Truth Social post. He said Putin "even used my very strong Campaign motto of, 'COMMON SENSE.'" and thanked him for Fogel's release.

However, concern has been mounting in Kyiv and European capitals about the shape of a possible deal.

The French, German and Spanish foreign ministers insisted Wednesday that there could be "no just and lasting peace" without the involvement of Kyiv and its European partners.

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H.Darwish--SF-PST