Trump open to joining Putin, Xi for summit to end Ukraine war
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US President Donald Trump says he is open to participating in a trilateral meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Putin has raised the prospect of a meeting with the three leaders to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin, on August 15, 2025, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
Speaking from the White House on Monday (Tuesday AEDT), Trump said that he “would do” the meeting, which would occur in November in China, but that he expected it would focus on denuclearisation efforts.
“If President Xi wants to have it, I’d have it,” he said.
But asked whether he would be willing to negotiate the end of the war in Ukraine without its leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump appeared to indicate yes, saying: “Anything I can do to end the war, whether somebody’s there or not.”
“I think it’s time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine,” Trump said.
Senior US and Russian officials have also spoken about Putin’s summit proposal.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. AP Photo/Alex Brandon
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in Uzbekistan, said there had been talks of a meeting.
“I don’t know anything’s been finalised. But the president has been clear he’d like the war in Ukraine and Russia to end.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said separately that while the possibility of such a meeting has been mentioned, “no substantive proposals or agreements neither regarding the meeting itself nor its potential agenda and content have been discussed or put forward by anyone”.
Putin ordered the Russian military to invade neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022, expecting a swift victory.
But stubborn Ukrainian resistance aided by western military aid worth billions of dollars and sanctions on Russia have resulted in a bloody stalemate.
Trump has accused Zelenskyy of not wanting to end the conflict.
Meanwhile, US efforts to bring peace have failed, including a recent truce covering energy infrastructure that Trump had demanded.
- With the Associated Press
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