Dhaka, Feb. 19 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump could meet this month, although the first face-to-face encounter between a Russian and a US leader since 2021 could take longer to prepare, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

Trump said on Tuesday he would probably meet Putin this month and dismissed Ukraine's concern about being left out of US-Russian talks in Saudi Arabia, while suggesting Kyiv could have reached a deal with Russia earlier.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the meeting in Riyadh was focused mostly on Russian-US bilateral ties but that it was a "very, very important step" towards reaching a settlement on the Ukraine war, nearing the end of its third year.

"But this is the first step.....