Putin proposes three-way summit with Trump and Xi, without Kyiv at the table

Vladimir Putin reportedly proposed to Donald Trump a trilateral summit with Xi Jinping to discuss a deal on Ukraine favorable to Moscow. This is reported by the Wall Street Journal, cited by Reuters and The Hill. According to the account, the proposal came during the October 9 phone call between Putin and Trump, the same call in which the two leaders agreed on the US purchase of Russian diesel. The Kremlin reportedly suggested as the venue the Apec summit scheduled for November 18 and 19 in Shenzhen, China.

The element that weighs most heavily in the account is not the venue, but the announced absence: none of the reports mention a role for Volodymyr Zelensky in the format proposed by Moscow. An agreement discussed by Washington, Moscow and Beijing over Kyiv’s head would overturn the negotiating approach that the United States has always stated it intends to follow, namely that no agreement on Ukraine can disregard Ukrainian involvement.

It remains to be verified, however, how real and how binding this proposal actually is. A senior US official cited by the sources clarified that Trump has not yet accepted the summit hypothesis. It is unclear whether the White House is evaluating the trilateral format as a basis for discussion or whether it simply regards it as a diplomatic opening from Moscow to be assessed on substance before form.

The Ukrainian reaction was immediate and sharp. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha rejected the very idea that Putin could sit at a table as a protagonist: “He is not a global leader, he is a war criminal” (transl. from English), he stated. The phrase sums up Kyiv’s position, which for months has demanded to be part of any negotiation concerning its own territory and rejects any format that excludes it.

The timing adds weight to the news. The October 9 phone call, in which the proposal was reportedly put forward, has already produced a concrete result — the deal on Russian diesel — which indicates a direct and operational channel of communication between Washington and Moscow. If the three-way summit were to materialize, it would represent the first occasion on which the three major global players in the Ukraine crisis would sit down together without the party directly involved in the conflict on its own soil. Beijing, for its part, has never taken on a declared mediating role in the war, despite maintaining close economic and political ties with Moscow; its formal involvement in a negotiation on Ukraine would mark a significant leap in role for Chinese diplomacy.

For now, this is a proposal, not an accomplished fact: there is no American confirmation, no fixed date, and no indication whatsoever of the contents of any eventual agreement. The Wall Street Journal remains the primary source on the matter, picked up consistently by two other outlets; no direct confirmation has come so far from the Kremlin or the White House on the reported details. The next concrete checkpoint will be the Apec summit in Shenzhen, on November 18 and 19, by which time it will become clear whether Moscow’s proposal will truly find a place on Washington’s agenda.