A meeting among Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump has no agreed plan, Reuters reported Oct. 19, while Ukraine objected to talks about the war without Kyiv.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the idea came up because the three leaders may attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting in China next month. He said no one had laid out arrangements for holding a meeting or deciding what it would address. The remarks echo earlier Kremlin comments that no agreement had been reached.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha criticized the possibility of a China meeting without Ukraine’s input in a post on X, Reuters reported. He said a format including Ukraine, Russia and the United States could help bring the war to an earlier end. By contrast, he argued, a Russia-China-U.S. meeting could encourage Putin to keep fighting.
Peskov said U.S. efforts to broker an end to the war were continuing and that a final settlement would require Ukraine’s participation. Reuters reported that U.S.-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine were most recently held in February.
The APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting is scheduled for Nov. 18-19 in Shenzhen. No separate meeting among the three leaders has been confirmed.
