Donald Trump has sharply criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, pointing to his unpopularity and the misappropriation of American aid, and he said he was "much more confident" in an agreement with Russia, promising a meeting with Vladimir Putin before April.

The US president, questioned by the press on Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, criticized Mr. Zelensky for having denounced the Russian-American discussions held on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia as talks "on Ukraine without Ukraine."

"I am very disappointed" by these remarks, Donald Trump responded, before launching into an attack on Mr. Zelensky, whom he even accused of having initiated the conflict in Ukraine.

"Today I heard 'oh we weren't invited'. Well, you've been here for three years. You should have ended it three years ago. You should have never started it," he said of the war, which was sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Looking back on the high-level talks between Russian and American officials in Saudi Arabia, during which Washington and Moscow agreed to appoint negotiators on the war, without the participation of the Europeans or Kiev, the American president judged that they had been "very good" and he said he was "much more confident" in the possibility of an agreement to end the war.

- "Russia wants to do something" -

"Russia wants to do something. They want to put an end to the savage barbarity," he assured. Asked about a possible meeting with Vladimir Putin before the end of the month, Donald Trump simply nodded and answered: "probably."

By calling the Russian president on the phone last week to discuss a settlement of the conflict with him directly, Donald Trump caused a shockwave in Europe and Ukraine.

During his Mar-a-Lago conference, he also criticized Ukraine for embezzling some of the American aid since the beginning of the conflict. "President Zelensky told me last week that he didn't know where half of the money was that we gave them," the American president said, before criticizing the absence of elections in Ukraine since the Russian invasion.

"We have a situation where we have not had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law essentially and where the leader of Ukraine - I am sorry to say this - but he is at 4% approval rating," he said when asked whether Washington would support forcing elections on kyiv, as Russia might want.

Asked about the emerging and divisive idea of sending European peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, Donald Trump replied: "If they want to do that, that's great. I'm totally in favor of it," adding that "we (the United States) don't have to send them there, because, you know, we're very far away."

- Attack in Odessa -

He also called for a "rebalancing" of aid to Ukraine between Europe and Washington. "We gave them I think $350 billion (...), that's a lot and we have to rebalance with Europe, because Europe gave a much smaller amount than that," Donald Trump said.

Amid diplomatic turmoil, Russian attacks continued Wednesday in Ukraine, where a "large" residential area in the southern port city of Odessa was left without heating or electricity.

"Following an enemy attack, 14 schools, 13 kindergartens and a large residential area (more than 500 homes) are now without electricity and heating," said its mayor Gennady Trukhanov.

The Russian military has been pounding Ukrainian energy and civilian infrastructure for three years, in addition to bombing cities and towns across Ukraine.