FT: Trump, Xi Jinping and Putin could meet for the first time in two weeks. Will they talk about Ukraine?

The United States, China, and Russia may hold a trilateral meeting between Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which will be held on November 18-19 in Shenzhen, China.

This is reported by the Financial Times, citing sources in Washington, Beijing, and Moscow.

According to the publicationʼs interlocutors, officials from the three countries have been seriously discussing organizing the first meeting between Trump, Xi, and Putin in this format for two weeks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to the FT that work on a possible meeting was ongoing. At the same time, Chinaʼs Foreign Ministry only said about contacts regarding Xiʼs meeting with Putin and did not mention talks with Trump.

There is no final decision on the trilateral summit yet. According to the FT, Washington and Moscow are pushing Beijing to hold the meeting, but China has not yet decided whether to agree.

It is also unclear what exactly the three leaders might be discussing. On October 19, The Wall Street Journal reported that Putin had suggested that Trump and Xi Jinping meet in November to discuss ending the war against Ukraine on terms favorable to Moscow.

The FT writes that German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, after a recent conversation with Xi, said that the Chinese leader had denied plans to hold trilateral talks on the war in Ukraine. According to him, Xi believes that European countries should also participate in the discussion of the war.

An FT source familiar with Moscowʼs position also says that Russia does not expect meaningful talks on Ukraine at a possible summit.

Instead, Trump has previously said he is open to a meeting in Shenzhen but would like to focus on nuclear arms control. China has so far shown no interest in such talks with the United States.

For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.