Vladimir Putin has proposed a summit with President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping next month to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, in what would be the most consequential diplomatic gathering of the four-year conflict if it happens. Putin raised the idea during his October 9 phone call with Trump, according to a former Russian intelligence officer briefed on the matter, and the Kremlin has since confirmed that discussions about a possible meeting are underway.
The venue Moscow has suggested is the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, on November 18–19, where all three leaders are already expected. The format Putin envisages is ambitious — Washington, Moscow and Beijing at one table, deciding the terms that end the war — and it comes with one absence that has already drawn fire in Kyiv and European capitals: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would not be in the room.
The October 9 call that produced the proposal was no brief courtesy conversation. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov described the 90-minute call as "very substantive" and friendly, covering economic initiatives, energy supplies and international issues, according to TASS. The same call produced a separate agreement for the United States to purchase Russian diesel fuel and help facilitate its sale on global markets — a deal Trump has said will see Russia supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel.
The Kremlin is not hiding the proposal. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to the Journal that a possible meeting is under discussion, while stressing how preliminary it remains. "There is no clear understanding yet regarding the meeting itself or its potential agenda, although all three parties acknowledge the hypothetical possibility of such a meeting taking place," Peskov said. Russian officials have also raised the proposal with Beijing through diplomatic channels, people familiar with those discussions said.
Washington has not said yes — but it has not said no. A senior US official told the Journal that Trump has not agreed to the proposed summit but might welcome the suggestion, given his determination to end the war. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in Samarkand this past week, confirmed the idea of a Trump–Putin–Xi meeting has been discussed and not decided, and restated the president's position: Trump is open to any initiative that brings the Ukraine war to an end.
China's position, so far, is a conditional shrug. Chinese officials have indicated they would not oppose a trilateral meeting if the United States agrees, according to people familiar with the Moscow–Beijing exchanges — though Beijing is mindful of keeping the APEC agenda focused on its regional priorities, and hosting a Ukraine summit on its own soil would put Xi at the center of the diplomacy whether he seeks the role or not.
The proposal lands in the middle of a rapid thaw between Washington and Moscow. Alongside the diesel agreement, Trump signed an executive order on Friday waiving key sanctions on Russia — moves the administration presents as keeping Moscow at the bargaining table rather than driving it away, and which Putin is now moving to capitalise on. It is also not the first time the Russian leader has floated a three-way summit with Trump and Xi; the difference this time is the setting, the timing, and a Washington that is listening.
Kyiv has reacted with alarm. Zelensky has criticised the diesel deal and the sanctions waivers, warning they will embolden Putin and prolong the conflict, and he has argued publicly that pressure on Moscow should not be undone. The deeper Ukrainian fear is the format itself: a settlement negotiated by the three largest powers over Ukraine's head, on terms the Journal's sources say Moscow hopes would favour Russia.
Nothing is agreed — no date beyond the APEC window, no agenda, no confirmation from Washington or Beijing. But the direction of travel is unmistakable: the war's endgame is increasingly being discussed in rooms where the three men who can settle it are present, and the next four weeks, running up to November 18 in Shenzhen, will show whether Trump's openness to any initiative turns Putin's proposal into the summit that ends the war.
Never miss a story — join us on Telegram: https://t.me/profilopoliticsnews