KYIV — The US and Russia agreed Tuesday to start working toward an end to the war in Ukraine — the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II — with the top diplomats from Washington and Moscow sitting down in the first step to restoring Russia’s global standing.

Tuesday’s meeting in Saudi Arabia, at which no Ukrainian representatives were present, marked the first formal meeting between US and Russian officials since the Kremlin’s invasion of its western neighbor began Feb. 24, 2022.

Following the four-and-a-half hour meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the two sides agreed on four principles: to improve diplomatic relations and restore embassy staffing, to set up high-level negotiating teams for talks on ending the Ukraine war, to lay the groundwork for future geopolitical and economic cooperation after the conflict ends, and to continue the discussions that began Tuesday in the Saudi kingdom.

Hours later, President Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago he felt “much more confident” in getting a deal done after the “very good” talks before lashing out at Ukrainian officials.

“I hear they’re upset about not having a seat. Well, they’ve had a seat for three years,” Trump said at his Palm Beach resort. “This could’ve been settled very easily.”

“You’ve been there for three years. You should have ended it three years [ago]. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.” 

Rubio, who led the talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, noted that neither side broached the topic of US sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s regime and did not settle on a date to meet again.

However, the secretary of state added, President Trump wants to bring a quick end to the war that has killed hundreds of thousands on both sides.

“President Trump is, as you’ve seen over the last four weeks, not patient in terms of getting action,” Rubio said. “He drives. He drives hard. He wants to get things done. He’s been wanting to do this, and he’s moving very quickly to fulfill the promises he made to the American people when they elected him as our president.”

“President Trump wants to stop the killing; the United States wants peace and is using its strength in the world to bring countries together. President Trump is the only leader in the world who can get Ukraine and Russia to agree to that,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce added in a separate statement.

Both Steven Witkoff, Trump’s special Middle East envoy; and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, described the talks as “positive,” with Witkoff gushing: “We couldn’t have imagined a better result after this session.  It was very, very solid.”

Rubio and Witkoff were joined on the US side by national security adviser Mike Waltz, while Lavro and Dmitriev were joined by Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud and Riyadh national security adviser Mosaad bin Mohammad al-Aiban sat between the two delegations in photographs of the historic event.

Lavrov said “the most urgent and not the most difficult” task ahead was ramping up respective embassy operations in Washington and Moscow, “to remove those obstacles that for many years, primarily from the administration of [former US President Joe] Biden, were primarily based on the direction of our diplomatic missions, seriously complicating their work,” according to Russian state news agency TASS.

Tuesday’s talks had been anticipated with growing alarm in Europe, particularly after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that it would be “unrealistic” for Ukraine to expect either an offer of NATO membership in any peace deal or for Russia to cede back territory it had captured from Kyiv since 2014.

Back in Moscow, chief Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov affirmed that while Ukraine attaining membership in the European Union is the “sovereign right of any country,” Russia would take a “completely different position” on “security, defense and military alliances.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova added that Ukraine joining NATO would be “unacceptable” to Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly said he would accept a deal that includes NATO membership or the acquisition of nuclear weapons — to stop Russia from invading again. 

Speaking in the Turkish capital of Ankara, on Tuesday, Zelensky said he was “surprised” he wasn’t invited to the Saudi talks and announced he had canceled his scheduled Wednesday meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to return to Kyiv. 

Ukrainian sources who spoke to The Post were divided about the US-Russia meeting, with one analyst and active duty military officer saying it was “absolutely predictable.”

“It was a shockwave for Europeans, because they got used to [thinking] that Uncle Sam would give them a hand. Every time they needed, he would spend more money and more money as they would be enjoying life without spending more armaments on their armed forces,” this source said.

“So for Ukraine, nothing really critical happened.”

This source added that Ukraine should be “realistic” about what a negotiated settlement with Russia could achieve.

“We have zero chance to get back the borders, not only of 2014 but even 2022,” they said. “That’s realistic. So we should freeze the conflict, get military presence from European countries and other countries on the front lines, and in this way, [be] secure that Ukraine could rebuild itself.”

“These talks were very expected for people who follow Trump’s activities and views,” added Ukrainian policy analyst Oleg Ponomar. “It was highly predicted and highly anticipated. He never hid his attachment to Putin and Russia. He never hid the fact that he does not accept the Ukrainian version of this aggressive imperialist war. He always accused both sides and always acted as a kind of mediator. He did not position himself as an ally of Ukraine. 

“Therefore, the main thing for him is deals, so-called deals, and in this regard, he only considers the context of the war and he promised his voters that he would end it soon and he is trying to end it soon, without taking into account the interests of Ukraine. My reaction is of course negative, but I am not surprised.”

Other US leaders, such as Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and US special envoy to Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg have been reassuring Ukrainians, urging them to stay calm, avoid hysteria and trust the process.

“There are thousands of people who have given their lives [for Ukraine.] Does anybody really believe that the United States would negotiate an agreement with a European nation that’s done what they’ve done on the battlefield — that suffered what they have — and not be at the table [for negotiations]?” Tillis told reporters in Kyiv Monday.

“Of course they will, and you’ll see that in the coming weeks and months,” he added.

Meanwhile, Kellogg is headed to Ukraine later this week for a series of meetings with Ukrainian leaders to get their input on a potential peace process.

With Post wires