Update(1735ET): President Trump in an afternoon press Q&A from Mar-a-Lago went off on those attacking his Ukraine peace initiative, which saw Secretary of State Rubio and national security advisor Walz lead a delegation in 4+ hours of talks with FM Lavrov and the Russians in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia earlier in the day.

"I want to see peace. Look, you know why I want it? Because I don't want all these people killed anymore. I'm looking at people that are being killed — and they're Russian and Ukrainian people, but they're people," Trump emphasized.

His tone on Zelensky was decidedly negative, and he defended his administration's stance on holding Kiev to new elections, saying this is necessary if the Ukrainians want a seat at the table. Watch:

FOX: We're hearing that Russia wants to force Ukraine to hold new elections in order to sign a sign a peace deal. Is that something that the US would ever support?

TRUMP: We have a situation where we haven't had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law ... the leader in Ukraine, I hate to say it, but he's down at 4% approval rating... the country has been blown to smithereens... the country looks like a massive demolition site.

On a similar theme, at one point he was asked what his message is to Ukrainians who feel betrayed by his administration, again as the US pursues negotiations with Russia while sidelining both Zelensky and EU officials. Trump responded bluntly:

"I hear they're upset about not having a seat. Well, they've had a seat for three years."

Trump was further asked about how he would prevent Russia from installing a puppet government in Ukraine. He remarked that none of this is about personalities, but about getting the job done, saying he likes Zelensky "personally" but that's not what this is all about.

"You have leadership now that's allowed a war to go on that should've never ever happened, even without the United States," Trump said, underscoring that the conflict and slaughter started under Biden.

"Look we had a president who was grossly incompetent, he had no idea what he was doing - he said some very stupid things, like going in for portions," Trump continued.

"This is something that would have never happened. And I used to discuss it with Putin. President Putin and I used to talk about Ukraine - it was the apple of his eye... I used to tell him 'don't go in' - and he understand that, he understood it fully... I want to see if I can save maybe millions of lives." You might "end up in World War 3," Trump warned, if the conflict keeps escalating and with no efforts to make peace.

And more:

Importantly, Trump also asked where the billions upon billions given to Ukraine went.

“We gave them I think $350 BILLION… where is all the money that’s been given? Where is it going? I don’t see any accounting!”

"...so I want to see peace... I don't want to see all these people killed anymore." He noted that Europe has "only given a small percentage of that" - even though this most directly impacts the security of Europe.

"I could have made a deal for Ukraine that would have given them almost all of the land and no people would have been killed and no cities would have been demolished... President Biden in all fairness doesn't have a clue".

* * *

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Tuesday he is cancelling his scheduled state visit to Saudi Arabia following the conclusion of US-Russia talks there.

He's been on a Middle East diplomatic tour to gain support for his country now three years in to the Russia-Ukraine war, which took him to the UAE, Turkey, and Wednesday he was supposed to be in Saudi Arabia to meet with the kingdom's leadership. The Saudi trip had been planned before it was known that the US-Russia talks would take place.

"Zelensky CANCELLING trip to Saudi Arabia following US/Russia talks. Zelensky will now return to Kyiv from Ankara, Turkey," Fox News has reported. He now says he plans to visit in March. Zelensky is clearly trying to lash out at Washington.

Without doubt this is to signal his anger about being cut out of talks toward ending the Ukraine war. The Kremlin hailed Tuesday's four-and-half hour meeting in Riyadh, with Rubio leading the US side and Lavrov leading the Moscow delegation, as "successful". European officials were also noticeably absent from the meeting, which was hosted and mediated by the Saudi government.

Zelensky had issued a prior warning while in the UAE: "Ukraine will not accept. Ukraine knew nothing about this. And Ukraine regards any negotiations about Ukraine without Ukraine as having no results," he had said.

"Ukraine will not take part in the negotiations. Ukraine did not know they were planned. And the visit to the region was planned long before the US decided to meet Russia there," he continued.

The fact that a high-level peace meeting was taking place without Zelensky or any Ukrainian representation, at the very moment he was in the region, is being felt as adding insult to injury from the Trump administration.

Top Russian diplomat Sergey Lavrov has explained the need for Zelensky's absence from talks as follows: "I don’t know what they [Kiev officals] could do at the negotiating table. If their aim is to cunningly extract a deceptive truce while secretly preparing for continued war—true to their habits and nature—then why invite them at all?" according to TASS.

The US and Russian sides have vowed to continue the peace negotiations going, hopefully leading to a face-to-face meeting between Presidents Putin and Trump.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the Riyadh meeting issued a statement revealing an agreement for election to be held in Ukraine, which Zelensky certainly isn't going to like (and probably won't agree to), given also he just recently argued that martial law prevents this. 

But Putin has said negotiations with Ukraine remain a non-starter so long as Zelensky refuses to hold elections. The Russian leader has said this makes him 'illegitimate' and thus he can't legally sign any peace terms.