Donald Trump has criticised Ukraine with comments suggesting its leaders never should have allowed the war to begin, and suggesting the country should have been willing to make concessions to Russia before the 2022 invasion.

The United States and Russia will appoint high-level teams to negotiate the end of the war in Ukraine and are working to reestablish diplomatic channels, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the end of key talks that excluded Kyiv.

High-level delegations from the U.S. and Russia began talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday over the fate of Ukraine, the negotiations taking place without Ukrainian participation. Ahead of the talks that the State Department said were aimed to discuss ending the now three-year-long war,