US President Donald Trump said he is open to meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in China next month, with nuclear arms control and denuclearisation at the centre of any discussion. He said the war in Ukraine could also be raised, while renewing attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Quick facts
- A possible Trump-Putin-Xi meeting has been linked to the APEC summit in Shenzhen on November 18-19.
- Trump said nuclear weapons, rather than Ukraine, would be the principal reason for joining talks.
- Russia said no formal proposal, agenda or agreement for a three-way meeting exists.
- Ukraine warned that negotiations excluding Kyiv could embolden Moscow.
Speaking on Monday, Trump said Ukraine needed a different representative in negotiations aimed at ending Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began in 2022. He questioned whether Zelensky should remain central to any settlement process.
“It may be time for someone else to negotiate for Ukraine,” Trump said, challenging the Ukrainian president’s role in peace efforts.
The Kremlin had previously said the three leaders might encounter one another during next month’s Asia-Pacific gathering in Shenzhen. Speculation over the meeting increased after reports that Putin hoped such talks could help deliver a Moscow-friendly peace arrangement.
Asked whether he would attend a session with Putin and Xi that covered Ukraine, Trump said he would be prepared to do so. But he indicated that resolving the conflict would not be his main motivation for taking part.
“I would participate, though not principally because of Ukraine,” Trump told reporters, adding that Russia had “been fine on Ukraine” and had not been especially active. He said the purpose would be to discuss nuclear arms and denuclearisation.
Trump nevertheless said he would take any possible step to bring the Ukrainian war to an end if the issue arose in talks involving Xi and Putin.
He also defended his recent diesel agreement with Putin and his decision not to impose additional sanctions on Moscow. Those decisions have deepened strains between Washington and Kyiv, with Zelensky warning that the US president had placed himself on the wrong side of history.
Trump rejected Zelensky’s criticism, saying the Ukrainian leader did not understand the situation. He again argued that another person should negotiate on Ukraine’s behalf.
Russia has stepped up strikes on Ukraine in recent months. Kyiv has accused Washington of holding back vital intelligence and slowing the operation of a satellite system used to monitor approaching attacks.
On Monday, a Russian drone hit a park in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, local authorities said. Six people, including small children, were killed.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the possibility of a meeting had been raised only because all three presidents could potentially attend the same Chinese summit. He described it as a hypothetical prospect rather than an arranged event.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit is due to be held in Shenzhen on November 18 and 19. China, Russia and the United States are all APEC members.
Peskov said no detailed initiative had been submitted and that nobody had reached an understanding on either the meeting itself or its possible subjects. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning likewise said she had no information about a planned meeting among the three leaders.
The prospect of discussions without Ukraine prompted a sharp response from Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga. He said a trilateral gathering of the Russian, Chinese and US leaders would hinder rather than advance efforts to stop the war by encouraging Putin to continue it.
In a social-media post, Sybiga said Putin was not a world leader but a war criminal.
Peskov, however, said a durable settlement could not be concluded without a Ukrainian participant willing to assume responsibility for an agreement. Putin has repeatedly ruled out meeting Zelensky before a final peace deal is ready and has challenged Zelensky’s authority to sign one after the end of his five-year presidential term, whose timing has been affected by Ukraine’s martial law.
