Kremlin says Putin, Trump and Xi could hold a three-way meeting in China next month

The Kremlin said on Monday that President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could ‌hold a three-way meeting on the sidelines of next month's APEC summit in China and that a potential meeting had come up in talks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was commenting after being asked about a report in the ‌Wall Street Journal which said that Putin had proposed such a meeting in order to discuss ‌how to end the conflict in Ukraine. "Given that all three heads of state may potentially take part in the summit in China, the subject of such a hypothetical meeting was indeed raised. It was raised, but no specific proposals or agreements were discussed ⁠or ​put forward by anyone, either ⁠regarding the meeting itself or the possible agenda and content of that meeting," said Peskov.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha criticised the ⁠idea of such a summit. "A trilateral meeting between the leaders of Ukraine, the US, and Russia could help end the ​war sooner. A trilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia, China, and the US would do ⁠only the opposite: encourage Putin to continue this war," he said on X.

Peskov, who told reporters on a daily conference call ⁠that the ​US was continuing its mediation efforts to resolve the conflict and that Russia appreciated those efforts, said it was obvious that Ukraine would need to be involved in any final peace deal. "Of course, a ⁠final settlement is impossible without the participation of someone in Kyiv who is prepared to take responsibility," he ⁠said.

The last US-mediated peace ⁠talks took place in February before the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran. Ukraine and Russia remain as far apart as ever when ‌it comes to the ‌terms of any possible peace deal.