Putin asks Trump for summit with Xi to decide Ukraine’s fate

 Vladimir Putin has proposed a summit with Donald Trump and Xi Jinping to negotiate the future of Ukraine.

The Russian president’s proposed talks would take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in China next month, without Volodymyr Zelensky.

Putin suggested the meeting during a phone call with Mr Trump on Oct 9, when the US president agreed to buy Russian diesel and waive sanctions on Moscow, according to a Russian intelligence officer who spoke to The Wall Street Journal.

A senior US official said that Mr Trump had not yet agreed to the summit, but could warm to the idea.

On Monday, Mr Trump told reporters that he would do it but “not so much for Ukraine”.

“Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine... We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearisation,” he said.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, also confirmed that while no plans had yet been set, talks were ongoing.

“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,” he told The Wall Street Journal.

The decision by Putin to bring Mr Xi to the table to help with the negotiations is likely an effort to capitalise on the recent goodwill established between China and the US.

During Mr Xi’s visit to the US last month, Mr Trump greeted his Chinese counterpart on the tarmac upon his arrival, praising the close ties between their two countries.

“The level of respect that Trump gives to Xi Jinping is actually quite unprecedented,” said William Yang, a senior analyst on North East Asia at the Crisis Group outlet.

“It’s a starting position for Russia because they have recognised both Xi’s unusually strong influence over Trump’s thinking, and Xi’s relative success in getting Trump to make certain types of compromises or adjustments in US policy on some of the most sensitive geopolitical issues,” he told The Telegraph.

This has been especially pronounced surrounding the US’s latest $14bn (£10.5bn) arms sale to Taiwan, which has been paused for months.

Putin is likely to be hoping that his Chinese counterpart can pressure the US to halt its remaining support for Ukraine.

“If Putin can potentially leverage Xi’s presence to also extract some further US concessions on support for Ukraine, then that is going to be in Putin’s interest and also very likely one of his top priorities,” said Mr Yang.

This no longer seems to be a distant possibility. Tensions between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky have worsened after Ukraine defied Mr Trump’s demand to stop bombing Russian energy infrastructure.

Mr Trump escalated matters at the weekend when he claimed that Mr Zelensky “doesn’t want to end” the war with Russia and “probably never did”.

While China often claims a principle of non-interference, Beijing has involved itself in an increasing number of conflicts in recent years, including brokering a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran in 2023 and assisting with a ceasefire agreement between Cambodia and Thailand in 2025.

“Xi Jinping definitely would want to be there because then not only is it going to make him look more powerful than the other two powerful leaders, because it’s going to project an impression that only China and only him can bring these two rogue leaders together,” said Mr Yang.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, arrived in Tehran on Monday for talks with Abbas Araghchi, his Iranian counterpart, in an effort to make progress on peace between Iran, Israel and the US.

It is Mr Lavrov’s first visit to Iran since the war broke out. If successful, his efforts could curry favour with Beijing, which has made clear it would like to see an end to the Iran war and the resumption of normal trade activity in the Strait of Hormuz.

On Sunday, Mr Trump revealed that his softening stance towards Russia was motivated in part by its withdrawal of military support to Iran.

He said: “Russia is doing very little, if anything, to help the Islamic Republic of Iran, compared to what they could be doing, and I want to keep it that way, and will, unless stupid people get in the way.”