U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that someone other than Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should negotiate for Ukraine, as he considered a proposed meeting with Russia’s and China’s leaders.
The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the discussions, that Russian President Vladimir Putin had raised the idea of meeting Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss Ukraine. Zelenskyy would be excluded from that proposed format, the newspaper reported.
Asked whether he had agreed to meet Putin and Xi, Trump said no, but said he was willing to consider it. He expected any such meeting to focus on denuclearization. Asked whether he would work to end the war without Zelenskyy, Trump said he would do “anything I can do to end the war, whether somebody’s there or not.”
The comments followed Trump’s Sunday defense of his Russia policy, when he argued that further pressure on Moscow could jeopardize negotiations. He also blamed Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries for pressure on diesel markets.
Ukraine’s foreign minister previously said talks among Trump, Putin and Xi without Kyiv would encourage Putin to continue the war. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Ukraine would need to take part in any final settlement, while Moscow had no agreed plan for a three-leader meeting.
The Wall Street Journal identified the Nov. 18-19 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting in Shenzhen as a possible occasion for talks. No meeting among Trump, Putin and Xi has been agreed.
