Soon after the White House row, Zelensky expressed regret about the incident and tried to repair relations with the US - the country's biggest military supplier.

Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, later said that Trump had received a letter from Zelensky that included an "apology" and "sense of gratitude".

Witkoff said that in Saudi Arabia the US team wanted to discuss a "framework" for peace to try to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

A major minerals deal - derailed because of the row - is also reported to be back on the agenda in Saudi Arabia.

Ukraine has offered to grant the US access to its rare earth mineral reserves in exchange for US security guarantees.

Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko said he believed Zelensky needed to secure the US-Ukraine relationship "at any cost" during his trip to Saudi Arabia, while making clear "what our red lines are".

"Otherwise, if there is a deal outside of these terms, then we will just say no, that's all. Because it's our army fighting," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The clash at the White House also resulted in the US pausing all military aid to Ukraine and stopping sharing intelligence.

But when asked on Sunday whether he would consider lifting the intelligence pause, Trump answered: "Well, we just about have. I mean, we really just about have and we want to do anything we can to get Ukraine to be serious about getting something done." He provided no further details.

On 18 February - before the US-Ukraine row in Washington - Rubio held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Saudi Arabia. It was a follow-up to Trump's controversial phone conversation with Putin.

The comments come as the Ukrainian military said that it shot down 130 Russian drones overnight.

Over the weekend, a wave of Russian drone strikes killed at least 25 people - mainly in the eastern Donetsk town of Dobropillya.

Elsewhere, Russian forces are reportedly trying to encircle thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in the Kursk region after recapturing three settlements on Sunday.

It comes seven months after a cross-border assault that Kyiv launched in part to gain a bargaining chip in possible peace negotiations.

Reports from Russian bloggers say Moscow special forces had crept for miles through a gas pipeline near the town of Sudzha in an attempt to surprise Ukrainian forces.