US President Donald Trump has indicated that he is ready to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in China next month, asserting that any trilateral summit would focus primarily on denuclearisation whilst potentially addressing the war in Ukraine.
"I would do it, not so much for Ukraine, because Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven't been doing much," Trump told reporters, adding that he remains willing to do "whatever I can do to end the war."
Defending his recent diesel agreement with Moscow and his waiver on congressional sanctions, Trump launched a sharp personal attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: "Zelensky doesn't know what he's talking about... To be honest, I think it's time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine."
The Kremlin confirmed that discussions regarding a hypothetical meeting on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen on November 18–19, have taken place, though spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted no formal agenda has been finalised.
US weapons freeze
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha firmly rejected three-way talks without Kiev, arguing the format would only encourage Moscow.
Speaking to a visiting US congressional delegation, Zelenskyy warned that recent decisions taken by Washington—including stalled weapons shipments and curbed intelligence sharing—are "hard to explain between friends."
Zelenskyy disclosed that Ukrainian forces have faced operational curbs on the Starshield satellite system required for drone defence, and noted that on three occasions over the past week, Ukraine failed to receive routine advance partner warnings of incoming Russian strikes.
He added that a vital missile package remains unfulfilled, awaiting US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's signature.
"All of this suggests that some political decision has been made to slow down support for us," Zelenskyy said.
He offered to halt Ukrainian strikes against Russian oil refineries for 30 days if Washington provides Patriot interceptors, confirming hopes for imminent talks with US presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Norway.
