US and Russian officials met on Tuesday in Riyadh for their first talks on ending the war in Ukraine, as Kyiv and its European allies watched anxiously from the sidelines.

The talks in the Saudi capital underscored the rapid pace of US efforts to halt the conflict, less than a month after President Donald Trump took office and six days after he spoke by phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine says no peace deal can be made on its behalf. "We, as a sovereign country, simply will not be able to accept any agreements without us," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last week.

The Riyadh talks pit three US officials in the first month of their jobs - Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff - against Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in office since 2004, and Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adviser.

The officials ignored shouted questions from reporters asking whether the US was sidelining the Ukrainians and what concessions Washington was demanding of Moscow.

The Kremlin said the Riyadh talks may bring clarity on a possible meeting between Trump and Putin, which both men have said they are keen to hold.