Kremlin Says It Is Reviewing Trump's G20 Invitation to Putin, No Decision Made

Russia has not decided whether Vladimir Putin will travel to Miami for the G20 summit in December. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday, Oct. 22, that Moscow will review the U.S. invitation and that no decision has been taken. It is the latest wrinkle in the peace push that began with the trilateral-talks announcement earlier this week.

Peskov also said Moscow sees the growing involvement of European countries in efforts to reach a settlement as a positive development.

The invitation

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the invitation in September after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. "We've invited President Putin to the G20," Rubio said. "We think it's an opportunity for him to engage not just with [Trump] but with other world leaders. We hope that's an invitation he'll accept."

Trump told reporters he does not know if Putin is coming. "I don't know, I don't know if he is coming. Certainly would love to have him," he said.

The summit is scheduled for Trump National Doral, the president's golf resort near Miami. Putin has not attended an in-person G20 since 2019. He joined virtually when India hosted in November 2023.

Zelenskyy said last week that Washington is working to arrange a trilateral meeting with Ukraine and Russia. He said Kyiv is ready to meet anywhere, in any format, and floated the G20 as one possible venue. He added that neither Moscow nor Washington has confirmed anything.

What Trump wants from the summit

According to The Atlantic, citing Trump's advisers, the president pictures himself standing between Putin and Zelenskyy as they sign a peace agreement at the resort, even if he has to pressure Ukraine to get there. The magazine reported that Zelenskyy has agreed to attend.

The Atlantic also reported that Putin has proposed a separate summit with Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in southern China in mid-November. Ukraine would have no seat at that table. The magazine said that if events play out as Trump wants over the next eight weeks, the result could be "not a negotiation, but a capitulation."

A Ukrainian official told The Atlantic on condition of anonymity: "It looks like this is all happening without us."

The Atlantic said Putin also told envoy Steve Witkoff that Russia is ready to resume three-way talks in November.

Relations with Kyiv since Oct. 9

The invitation arrives after a rough stretch between Washington and Kyiv. On Oct. 9, Trump announced a deal with Putin to supply hundreds of thousands of tons of Russian diesel to global markets. The next day he accused Zelenskyy of missing a chance to end the war and said Ukraine needed a new president.

On Oct. 11, Trump announced an energy ceasefire he said both sides had accepted. The Financial Times reported that Kyiv was unaware of it. The arrangement later turned out to cover only strikes on oil refineries.

Trump had promised the diesel deal would drive fuel prices down "IN RECORD NUMBERS, AND FAST!" Newsweek reported the national average diesel price rose to $6.28 a gallon this week.

Reuters reported that Ukraine's access to Starshield, the satellite system its drones and battlefield communications rely on, was significantly degraded in mid-October. Reuters said the order to limit it came from inside the White House. Trump has denied any involvement.

Patriots and supply

The Washington Post reported that approval of Patriot interceptor transfers to Ukraine is on hold, and that a Ukrainian official said only "a couple" of interceptors remain. Rubio acknowledged Oct. 20 that a batch bought for Kyiv may not have been delivered. He rejected any political motive: "There's nothing being deliberately denied to Ukraine."

The administration's strongest argument is scarcity. Lockheed Martin delivered 620 PAC-3 MSE interceptors in 2025 and plans to raise annual capacity to 2,000 over seven years. A July assessment by the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that heavy combat use during the Iran war pushed U.S. Patriot inventories below 1,000.

Kiel Institute data for the first half of 2026 show Europe as the largest military-aid donor. Yet U.S. stockpiles supplied more than 90% of aid delivered through NATO's PURL program, so European money still depends on what Washington releases.

Midterms and leverage

John Lough of the New Eurasian Strategies Centre told Newsweek that Trump "doesn't have any sense of commitment to the defense of Ukraine. Ukraine is completely expendable." Lough argued Trump is focused on ending a major war and capturing commercial deals with Moscow.

The politics are shifting underneath that push. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published Monday put Trump's approval at 31 percent. Democrats led Republicans 47 to 35 percent on the congressional ballot. The Atlantic reported that Kyiv fears a harder U.S. line if Republicans lose a chamber on Nov. 3.

Russia's position on territory has not changed. The Kremlin has said progress depends on Ukrainian decisions, and Zelenskyy has said any deal needs Kyiv at the table.

What comes next

Putin has not answered the invitation, and Moscow has not said when it will. The next fixed date is the Nov. 3 midterms. The proposed mid-November leaders' meeting in China, which neither Washington nor Moscow has confirmed, would fall before the December G20.

Whether Ukraine is seated at any of those meetings remains unresolved.