Kremlin Says Putin, Trump and Xi Could Hold Trilateral Meeting on Ukraine War in China Next Month

The Kremlin said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could hold a trilateral meeting on ending the war in Ukraine next month. The talks would take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China. The idea matters because peace efforts between Russia and Ukraine have made little progress.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a Wall Street Journal report on ongoing efforts to end the war. He said the subject of a hypothetical meeting had indeed come up, since all three leaders may potentially attend the summit. He stressed, however, that nobody had put forward specific proposals or agreements, whether on the meeting itself or on its agenda and substance.

Kyiv criticises the idea

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha objected to holding a meeting in China without Ukraine's input. In a post on X, he wrote that a trilateral meeting of the leaders of Ukraine, the U.S. and Russia could help end the war sooner, while a meeting of the leaders of Russia, China and the U.S. would do the opposite and encourage Putin to continue the war.

U.S. mediation continues

Peskov told reporters that the United States was continuing its efforts to broker an end to the war. He acknowledged that Ukraine would ultimately have to be involved in a final peace deal, saying a final settlement is impossible without someone in Kyiv who is prepared to take responsibility.

The last U.S.-mediated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in February, just before the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran. Ukraine and Russia remain as far apart as ever on the terms of any possible peace deal.