Standing beside a bombed-out milling plant in his village, Mykola Havrylov said he felt powerless watching U.S. and Russian officials discussing an end to a three-year-old war that is creeping ever closer to his home in southeastern Ukraine.

While U.S. officials characterized the talks as the first step in a peace deal, the Russians are portraying them as a way to end Moscow’s isolation.

President Donald Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "a dictator without elections" Wednesday in a Truth Social post, extending a verbal sparring match between the two world leaders the day after U.S. and Russian officials met without Ukraine to discuss terms to end Russia's three year old invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been giving a press conference in Kyiv following Tuesday's meeting between U.S. and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia. Zelenskiy said attempts to replace him during the war against Russia would not work and that U.

Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has low approval ratings and that elections are needed, statements also made in the past week by the Kremlin.