The proposal

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, 18 October, that Vladimir Putin wants a meeting next month with Donald Trump and Xi Jinping to discuss ending the war in Ukraine on terms favourable to Moscow. The paper cited people familiar with the matter and a former Russian intelligence officer, who was not named. According to that account, Putin raised the idea during a phone call with Trump on 9 October, the same call in which the two agreed a deal on Russian diesel supplies for the American and world markets. Putin had floated a three-way summit in September as well, but the Kremlin now presents it as a way to use warmer ties with Trump. Ukraine and its allies in Washington and Europe have grown uneasy about that warming, and a summit without Zelensky would have no precedent.

Timing and venue

Under the Kremlin's proposal, the trilateral talks would take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, held on 18 and 19 November. TVP Info reported that the negotiations would be held in the second half of November. The WSJ said Chinese officials would not object if Trump agreed to the meeting. Neither the White House nor the Chinese embassy in Washington answered requests for comment.

Key dates in the proposed Ukraine summit track
  1. Putin raises the three-way summit idea in a phone call with Trump, according to the WSJ
  2. The White House pauses a new package of sanctions and tariffs on Russia
  3. APEC summit opens in Shenzhen, the venue the Kremlin proposed for the sidelines talks
  4. Window for the trilateral negotiations, as reported by TVP Info

Kremlin and White House positions

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, confirmed to the WSJ that a possible meeting is being discussed. He said there is no clear agreement yet on the meeting itself or its agenda, although all three sides accept that such a meeting could theoretically happen. A senior US official told the WSJ that Trump had not agreed to a summit, but could be receptive because he wants to deliver on his campaign promise to end the war in Ukraine. Trump had earlier claimed he would end the war on his first day back in the White House, and his second year in office is nearing its end.

Sanctions and Trump's overtures

On Friday, 16 October, the White House paused a new package of sanctions and tariffs aimed at Russia, saying it did not want to discourage Moscow from peace talks on Ukraine. Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, told Reuters on Sunday, 18 October, that Trump wants up to 60 days to assess the economic effects of those measures. Bloomberg counted the diesel export deal and the decision to waive a new sanctions law among Trump's recent overtures to Putin.

What remains open

TVP Info reported that Zelensky had considered a separate three-way meeting that would include Ukraine, Russia and the United States. The proposed Moscow-Washington-Beijing format leaves Kyiv out, and no date, host or agenda has been confirmed. Whether the summit happens in the second half of November, and in what form, depends on Trump's decision, which had not been announced as of 19 October.