Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Oct. 19 that talks on the war among the U.S., Russia and China without Kyiv would embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep fighting.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Putin had raised the prospect of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump, without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on a settlement favoring Moscow.
Sybiha said a meeting of Zelensky, Trump and Putin could help bring the war to an end sooner. He said talks among the three powers without Ukraine would “encourage Putin to continue this war.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described the meeting as hypothetical and said no meeting or agenda had been agreed. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he thought the idea had been discussed but knew of no finalized plan. Asked about the report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning offered no details.
Putin said Oct. 1 that he would support a meeting with Trump and Xi if it had an agenda. The Journal cited the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting as a possible venue. That event is scheduled for Nov. 18-19 in Shenzhen, China.
