The White House tenant thus apes the narrative of the aggressor, moreover exposed again, for the umpteenth time, by the head of Russian diplomacy following the meetings between Russian and American officials in Riyadh, where Ukraine and the EU were not invited.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday rejected Ukraine's objections to his exclusion from U.S.-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia aimed at ending the war in eastern Ukraine.

He also appeared to suggest that Ukraine was responsible for a war that only began after Russia invaded that country, in the east and in Crimea in 2014, and with a full-scale invasion in 2022.

Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Mr Trump said: "Today I heard (them) say, 'We weren't invited.' You've been here three years. You should have ended it three years ago. You should have never started it."

Mr. Trump has shown little patience with Ukraine’s objections to his exclusion from the Saudi talks. He has repeatedly said that Ukrainian leaders should never have allowed the conflict to erupt, saying that Kyiv should have been willing to make concessions to Russia before it sent troops to Ukraine nearly three years ago.

Moreover, during the US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov justified Russia's massive invasion by blaming Ukraine and the West for the war. He repeated the Kremlin's propaganda theses about the alleged "root causes" of the war, including NATO expansion and "discrimination" against the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine.

Lavrov also reiterated Vladimir Putin's long-standing demands since late 2021, including Ukraine's neutrality, refusal to join NATO, limiting the size of the Ukrainian military and effectively removing the Ukrainian government from power.

Sean Savett, who served as White House National Security Council spokesman under President Joe Biden, said in a social media post: “It looks like Trump has swallowed Putin’s propaganda without a second thought.”

“A reminder that no one should need: Putin started the war by invading Ukraine without provocation and his forces have committed war crimes against the Ukrainian people. Russia is the party responsible for continuing this war.”

Transatlantic link in danger?

Those comments and Trump's goal of repairing ties with Moscow could cost the U.S.-European transatlantic alliance dearly and significantly damage Washington's standing with Ukraine and other nations that rely on U.S. leadership in NATO and elsewhere for their security and protection.

"(E)ven a clumsy negotiator could have settled this issue years ago without losing much ground, very little ground, without losing lives," Trump said, echoing his frequent claim that he could have prevented the Russian invasion.

Mr Trump said he believed he had a "good chance" of ending Russia's war in Ukraine, but he railed against suggestions that the US and Russia had entered into negotiations to end the fighting that was taking place without Ukraine playing a role.

No intention to exclude Europe

Neither Ukraine nor European countries were invited to Tuesday's talks in Riyadh, but U.S. officials said there was no question of excluding them from peace negotiations if they actually began.

“No one is being left out,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. “Obviously there will be engagement and consultation with Ukraine, with our partners in Europe and with others. But ultimately, the Russian side will be indispensable to this effort.”

Donald Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz said the US president spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky immediately after speaking to Putin last week and that US Vice President JD Vance and US Secretary of State Rubio met with Zelensky on Friday in Germany.

However, the Ukrainian leader was clearly unhappy about being excluded from the meeting and postponed his planned visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to avoid any link between his trip and the US-Russia talks on Tuesday.

This was before Mr Trump's comments suggesting that Kyiv was responsible for starting the fighting.

"From the beginning, the whole negotiation seems to be tilted in Russia's favour. One can even wonder whether this is a negotiation or, in some sense, a series of American capitulations," said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Eurasia and Russia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London and a former British ambassador to Belarus.

If the parties can negotiate an end to the conflict in Ukraine, Rubio said, it could open up "incredible possibilities" for partnership with the Russians "on issues that will hopefully benefit the world and improve our relationship in the long term."

He did not specify what that would entail.

US sanctions maintained?

He has, however, reportedly told his European allies that the US will not lift sanctions on Russia, at least until a deal is reached to end the war in Ukraine.

According to Bloomberg, Rubio made the statement during a phone call with a group of European officials on February 18, after talks between the U.S. and Russian delegations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Earlier in the day, he stressed that any deal to end the war would require concessions from all sides, including on the issue of sanctions.

"To end a conflict, all sides must make concessions," Rubio told reporters in Riyadh.