KYIV, Feb 13 - Russian officials and state media took a triumphant tone Thursday after President Donald Trump jettisoned three years of U.S. policy and announced he would likely meet soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate a peace deal in the almost three-year war in Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said he would not accept any negotiations about Ukraine that do not include his country in the talks. European governments also demanded a seat at the table, The Associated Press reported.

Trump’s change of tack seemed to identify Putin as the only player that matters in ending the fighting and looked set to sideline Zelenskyy, as well as European governments, in any peace talks. The Ukrainian leader recently described that prospect as “very dangerous.”

Putin has been ostracized by the West since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbor, and in 2023 the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader alleging war crimes.

Trump’s announcement created a major diplomatic upheaval that could herald a watershed moment for Ukraine and Europe.

Russian officials and state-backed media sounded triumphant after Wednesday’s call between Trump and Putin that lasted more than an hour.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that the “position of the current (U.S.) administration is much more appealing.”

Senior lawmaker Alexei Pushkov said the call “will go down in the history of world politics and diplomacy.”

“I am sure that in Kyiv, Brussels, Paris and London they are now reading Trump’s lengthy statement on his conversation with Putin with horror and cannot believe their eyes,” Pushkov wrote on his messaging app.

In his first comments to journalists since Trump held individual calls first with Putin and then Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian leader conceded that it was “not very pleasant” that the American president spoke first to Putin. But he said the main issue was to “not allow everything to go according to Putin’s plan.”

“We cannot accept it, as an independent country, any agreements (made) without us,” Zelenskyy said as he visited a nuclear power plant in western Ukraine.

While Trump was noncommittal on Wednesday, he offered some reassurances on Thursday when asked by reporters whether Ukrainians would have a seat at the table in U.S. negotiations with Russia. “Of course they would,” Trump said. “I mean, they’re part of it. We would have Ukraine, we have Russia, and we’ll have other people involved too.”

During the conversation with Trump on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said, the U.S. president told him he wanted to speak to both the Russian and Ukrainian leaders at the same time.

“He never mentioned in a conversation that Putin and Russia was a priority. We, today, trust these words. For us it is very important to preserve the support of the United States of America,” Zelenskyy said.

Trump also effectively dashed Ukraine’s hopes of becoming part of NATO, which the alliance said less than a year ago was an “irreversible” step, or getting back the parts of its territory captured so far by the Russian army. Russia currently occupies close to 20% of the country.

Trump has blamed Ukraine’s desire to join the U.S.-led mutual defense pact for sparking Russia’s invasion.

“That’s the way it is,” Trump said Thursday of Russia’s longstanding opposition to Ukraine joining NATO, “and I think that’s the way it’s going to have to be.”

The U.S. administration’s approach to a potential settlement is notably close to Moscow’s vision of how the war should end. That has caused alarm and tension within the 32-nation NATO alliance and 27-nation European Union.

Some European governments that fear their countries could also be in the Kremlin’s crosshairs were alarmed by Washington’s new course, saying they must be part of negotiations.

EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said: “It is clear that any deal behind our backs will not work. You need the Europeans. You need the Ukrainians.” (ap/ez)