Putin Proposes Summit With Trump and Xi on Ukraine at November APEC Meeting in China, WSJ Reports

Vladimir Putin has proposed that he, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet next month to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Sunday night. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would not be part of it.

The Journal, citing people familiar with the discussions, says the Kremlin wants the talks held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, on Nov. 18 and 19.

Nothing is settled.

What is on the table

A former Russian intelligence officer briefed on the matter told the Journal that Putin floated the idea in an Oct. 9 phone call with Trump. The same call produced a deal for the U.S. to buy Russian diesel fuel and help sell it on the global market. The former officer also said Putin has proposed a trilateral summit to both leaders on earlier occasions.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that discussions are happening. "There is no clear understanding yet regarding the meeting itself or its potential agenda, although all three parties acknowledge the hypothetical possibility of such a meeting taking place," he told the Journal.

A senior U.S. official told the paper that Trump has not agreed to a summit. The official added that he could be receptive, given his desire to fulfill a campaign promise to settle the war. Trump had said it would be finished on "day one" of his new term. He is now approaching nearly two years in office.

The White House and the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

Beijing's angle

Russian officials raised the idea with Beijing through diplomatic channels. People close to the Moscow-Beijing discussions told the Journal that China has indicated it would not object if Trump is on board.

For Xi, the appeal is plain. "China wants to be seen as the pivot of the great powers, and potentially as a mediator between the U.S. and Russia," said Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank.

The Journal also reports that Chinese officials have concerns about allowing a geopolitical side show to overshadow their designs to use APEC as a showcase of China's role in the region. Xi is trying to walk a fine line between continuing his support for Putin and maintaining China's economic ties with Europe, and a trilateral meeting could provoke a backlash from European capitals already wary of Beijing's tilt toward Moscow.

A three-way dialogue on Chinese soil would mark a big step for Xi in his efforts to elevate China's role as a diplomatic power broker, analysts who study China told the Journal.

Trump and Zelensky trade shots

The report lands as relations between Washington and Kyiv sour in public. On Friday, Trump halted implementation of sanctions that were to be imposed on Russia under a bipartisan bill he signed last month, drawing criticism from lawmakers, including some of his allies. He also waived tariffs on Russian goods days before they were due to take effect.

Zelensky said Saturday that the decision to waive sanctions and tariffs will embolden Moscow to keep attacking Ukraine. In an interview Sunday with Bloomberg News, he accused Trump of trying to pressure Kyiv into surrendering to Russia.

Trump answered on Truth Social, following Ukraine's strike on an oil terminal in Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg earlier in the day. He wrote that Zelensky "doesn't want to end this war, and probably never did," and accused him of targeting Russian diesel refineries. Trump has said the Ukrainian leader must stop strikes on Russian refineries, and has suggested the country needs a new president.

Trump defended his Russia policy in a separate post. "My decision on Russia is a very simple one. I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don't want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table. Great progress is being made, and that includes current hostage negotiations! Signing that document at this time will do that, and I can sign it later, or any time that I want!" he wrote. In another post he wrote, "I WANT THIS WAR END!"

The fuel-price backdrop

The diesel arrangement has a domestic side. The Journal reports Trump just notched a deal with Putin to get Russian diesel in a bid to lower fuel prices that have slowed the American economy and hurt Republican prospects ahead of the midterm elections. A senior White House official said Trump made the decisions after seeing few other good options to lower prices.

The Journal also reports that the consensus among energy experts is that the Iran war is the primary cause of rising diesel prices, and that the amount of fuel Russia has promised to sell wouldn't move the market much.

That puts a Russian diesel deal, a sanctions pause and a possible summit with Putin in the same stretch of a month. Trump has said he did not want to drive Russia away from the bargaining table. Ukraine and its allies in Europe and Washington have criticized the moves, according to the Journal.

What comes next

The Journal says a summit without Zelensky would be unprecedented and would send alarm bells ringing in European capitals and beyond. U.S.-led efforts to broker an end to the war have been largely stalled.

The next marker is the APEC summit in Shenzhen on Nov. 18 and 19. Whether Trump agrees to a meeting there, and whether Kyiv is offered any role, are both unanswered.