The Wall Street Journal said Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed Ukraine talks with U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, excluding Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, prompting Kyiv's objection with no summit confirmed.
At an Oct. 19 briefing, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged that a gathering of the three leaders had come up in discussion. He said the talks had yielded no concrete proposal, agreement or agenda, and added that Kyiv would need to take part in any final settlement. That comment concerned an eventual settlement and did not set the format for earlier talks.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Oct. 19 that he knew discussions had taken place but was unaware of anything finalized. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that day she had no information to share when asked about the report. Neither official confirmed a meeting.
Putin had spoken publicly about the possibility on Oct. 1. He said he was open to meeting Trump and Xi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting if the leaders had an agenda. He also said the idea depended substantially on China as host.
The Journal described the reported initiative as an effort to shape Ukraine settlement terms in Moscow's favor and called a summit without Zelensky unprecedented. The Kremlin's remarks have not confirmed either the reported Ukraine agenda or the proposed participant list.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha argued that a meeting among Russia, China and the United States without Ukraine would encourage Putin to continue the war. He favored talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the United States instead. Sybiha had previously objected to a format without Kyiv in earlier comments.
The APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting is scheduled for Nov. 18-19 in Shenzhen, China. Those dates apply to the leaders’ gathering; no separate date has been announced for a Putin-Trump-Xi meeting.
