Kremlin says Putin, Trump and Xi could meet in China next month

The Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump, and Chinese President Xi Jinping could convene for a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China, according to reporting by Trtworld and The Moscow Times.

Speaking on a daily conference call reported by Trtworld, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that the topic of a hypothetical three-way gathering arose because all three heads of state may participate in the summit. Peskov added, however, that no specific proposals, agendas, or formal agreements have been put forward by any party. The concept originally surfaced following a Wall Street Journal report indicating that Putin had proposed the format to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, as detailed by Thedailybeast.

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Reaction from Ukrainian leadership was swift and condemnatory. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha argued on X, as cited by The Moscow Times, that while a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the U.S., and Russia could accelerate peace, a summit joining Russia, China, and the U.S. Without Kyiv would only encourage Putin to continue his invasion. Peskov maintained that a final settlement remains impossible without representation from Kyiv prepared to take responsibility, while noting that Washington's ongoing mediation efforts are appreciated in Moscow.

Concurrently, diplomatic developments have been compounded by severe strains on the battlefield supply chain. According to an investigation by Yahoo News, Ukrainian officials and military officers suspect that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is intentionally withholding allied-funded Patriot interceptor missiles to exert political pressure on Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that political agreements at the working level remain unimplemented, pointing out delivery bottlenecks while Russian ballistic missile strikes batter civilian infrastructure. American officials have disputed these claims, while NATO representatives reported that broader Coalition support continues to flow.

Plans for a bilateral meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest were officially placed on hold after a telephone discussion between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as reported by PBS. Trump told reporters at the White House that he did not want a wasted meeting or a waste of time. This suspension followed an intense period of whiplash, during which Trump weighed supplying long-range Tomahawk missiles before pivoting back to peace negotiations after a phone call from Putin, as outlined by BBC.

European leaders, meanwhile, are pressing ahead with plans to leverage frozen Russian assets to sustain Kyiv's defense industry, laying the groundwork for upcoming discussions.

European leaders are slated to discuss further economic sanctions against Moscow at an EU summit in Brussels, while a meeting of the 35-country Coalition of the Willing is scheduled to take place in London, as reported by PBS.