Trump offers to attend a leaders' meeting in Shenzhen
Speaking to reporters in Washington on Monday, US President Donald Trump said he was prepared to travel to China next month for a meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping. He described denuclearization as the main purpose of such a gathering, while adding that the conflict in Ukraine could also come up. Asked whether he would raise Ukraine at a Putin-Xi summit, Trump said he would do whatever he could to bring the war to an end.[S1][S2][S3][S5][S6][S7][S8]
The remarks followed a Wall Street Journal report that Putin was seeking three-way talks aimed at a peace settlement favorable to Moscow. The Kremlin said earlier that the Russian, Chinese and US leaders could potentially gather at an Asia-Pacific summit in Shenzhen next month. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group is scheduled to hold its summit in the southern Chinese city on November 18-19, and China, Russia and the United States all belong to the bloc.[S1]
Kremlin and Beijing play down expectations
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that because all three heads of state might attend a summit in China, the possibility of such a hypothetical meeting had indeed been raised. He stressed, however, that no substantive proposals or agreements had been discussed or put forward by anyone, whether about the meeting itself or about its possible agenda and content. China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters she had no information about a possible meeting.[S1]
Kyiv objects to any table without Ukraine
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga rejected the idea of a meeting among the Russian, Chinese and US leaders without Kyiv's participation, arguing that such a format would only encourage Putin to keep fighting. He also described Putin as a war criminal rather than a global leader. Peskov, for his part, said a final settlement could not be reached without someone from Kyiv prepared to shoulder the responsibility.[S1]
Putin has repeatedly refused to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky until a final peace deal is ready, and he has questioned Zelensky's authority to sign one since the expiry of his five-year term under martial law. Trump renewed his criticism of Zelensky on Monday, saying it was time for someone else to negotiate on Ukraine's behalf, and he defended his recent diesel deal with Putin and his decision to waive new sanctions on Moscow.[S1]
Zelensky had cautioned Trump that history would judge him harshly, and Trump brushed this aside, remarking that the Ukrainian president lacked understanding of the matter. In recent months Russia has stepped up strikes on Ukraine, while Kyiv has said Washington is withholding key intelligence and slowing a satellite network used to detect incoming attacks. On Monday, Ukrainian officials reported that a Russian drone hit a park in the northeastern Kharkiv region, killing six people, including small children.[S1]
