US President Donald Trump has expressed confidence in the progress of negotiations toward a possible Ukraine peace deal following talks between US and Russian senior officials.



The two country's top diplomats met in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday and agreed to establish high-level teams to continue talks to end the fighting in Ukraine.



Asked whether he is more confident or less confident about the deal after Tuesday's talks, Trump said he is "much more confident." He added, "Russia wants to do something."



The US president referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who expressed frustration over Tuesday's talks after Kyiv was left out of them.



Trump said that Ukraine has had chances to negotiate for three years and for a long time before that, and the conflict "could have been settled very easily."



Citing multiple foreign diplomatic sources, Fox News reported that "forcing Ukraine to hold new elections could be a key part of a peace deal."



Ukraine has postponed a presidential election, citing reasons such as martial law imposed due to the Russian invasion. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made statements questioning Zelenskyy's legitimacy as president.



Trump said Ukrainians should be saying, "It's been a long time since we've had an election." He added that this is not Russia's view, but his own and that of many other countries.



Meanwhile, Reuters news agency reported that when asked if he expects to meet with Putin before the end of this month, Trump replied, "Probably."



However, the officials attending Tuesday's talks said the date has not been set for a US-Russia summit.