WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump indicated on Monday that he was ready to meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping in China next month, saying any summit would focus on denuclearisation but could also address the war in Ukraine.
Trump also renewed his criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country has been fighting off a Russian invasion since 2022, saying it was “time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine”.
The Kremlin said earlier that the Russian, Chinese and US leaders could meet at an Asia-Pacific summit in Shenzhen next month, following a Wall Street Journal report that Putin wanted the three-way talks to broker a peace deal favourable to Moscow.
“I would do it, not so much for Ukraine, because Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven’t been doing much,” Trump told reporters when asked whether he would attend a meeting with Putin and Xi to discuss Ukraine.
“We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearisation.”
Asked whether he would discuss Ukraine at any summit with Xi and Putin, Trump replied that he would do “whatever I can do to end the war”.
However, Trump defended his recent diesel deal with Putin and his decision to waive new sanctions on Moscow, which has opened a major rift with Kyiv and prompted Zelensky to warn the US leader that he was on the wrong side of history.
“Zelensky doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Trump said when asked about the Ukrainian leader’s comments. “To be honest, I think it’s time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine.”
Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine in recent months, while Kyiv has accused Washington of withholding vital intelligence and slowing the speed of a satellite system used to track incoming strikes.
Six people, including young children, were killed when a Russian drone struck a park in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region on Monday, the authorities said.
Kyiv insists on involvement
Asked about the Wall Street Journal report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Given that all three heads of state might potentially attend a summit in China, the topic of such a hypothetical meeting has indeed been mentioned.”
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group is due to hold a summit in the Chinese city of Shenzhen on Nov 18-19. China, Russia and the United States are all members.
However, Peskov added that “no substantive proposals or agreements, neither regarding the meeting itself nor its potential agenda and content, have been discussed or put forward by anyone”.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said she had no information about a possible meeting.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga bristled at the suggestion of a meeting without Kyiv’s involvement.
“A trilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia, China and the US would do only the opposite: encourage Putin to continue this war,” he said.
Putin, he insisted in a social media post, was “not a global leader; he is a war criminal”.
Peskov said that “a final settlement is impossible without the participation of someone from Kyiv who is prepared to take on the responsibility”.
However, Putin has repeatedly ruled out meeting Zelensky until a final peace deal is ready and questioned Zelensky’s authority to sign an agreement following the expiry of his five-year term under martial law.