Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has proposed several times this year a tripartite summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.
No such summit has taken place, and now Putin has floated a different three-way summit that would exclude Zelensky.
Tim Murry, a foreign threats compound contractor, drives a T-72 battle tank into position to serve as adversary targets for a joint service exercise, Emerald Flag, at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Nov. 30. Emerald Flag is a multi-service exercise aimed to unify information sharing across joint domain platforms. (U.S. Air Force photo/1st Lt Karissa Rodriguez)
T-72 Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Putin has proposed meeting with Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in November to discuss Ukraine, to negotiate “an end to the four-year conflict that would favor Moscow.”
Putin proposed such a summit to Trump in a phone call on October 9, the Journal reported, during which the two leaders also agreed to a deal on diesel oil.
This hypothetical pivotal meeting to discuss Ukraine’s fate would not include Zelensky or any representative of the Ukrainian government, nor any member of the Ukraine-allied European Union.
Putin would like the meeting to take place in Shenzhen, a Chinese city, in November.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit is scheduled for that city on November 18 and 19.
It’s unclear whether the U.S. and China support the idea of the summit.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the outlet that the United States, China and Russia all “acknowledge the hypothetical possibility of such a meeting taking place.”
An About-Face
The proposal for such a summit follows Trump, in recent weeks, seeming to tilt back toward Russia on the conflict, after months of a seeming thaw in his relations with Zelensky, and after Trump at one point even agreed to make Patriot missile licenses available to Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Trump, after Ukraine did not agree to stop striking Russian oil refineries, announced a shocking deal to buy diesel oil from Russia and to lift sanctions on that country.
Later, he called for Zelensky to be replaced as Ukraine’s president, and the White House reportedly decided to throttle Ukraine’s access to Starshield, the military-grade version of Starlink technology.
Last Friday, Trump signed an executive order, titled “Implementing the Lindsay O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026,” in which he announced he was “waiving the application of such sanctions, restrictions, and duties provided for in the Graham Act.”
Graham, Trump’s friend and ally, had been pushing to pass the sanctions on Ukraine before his death this summer, which happened right after he returned from a visit to Ukraine, and the new sanctions law, named in his honor, was passed by Congress and signed by Trump after his death.
Trump vs. Zelensky
In a Truth Social post over the weekend, Trump explained his reasoning for his approach to the conflict and why he seems to favor Russia at the moment.
Trump said that he is trying to negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine, and that he did not want to “do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table.”
He went on to state that Russia is “doing very little” to help Iran, its traditional ally, and that “I want to keep it that way.” He also attacked Zelensky for striking oil refineries, and claimed the new oil from Russia would help “Farmers, ranchers, and businesses of all kinds.”
He also accused Zelensky of implicit corruption, of collecting aid from Europe and the Biden Administration, and of claiming that “he doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did.”
The Truth Social post ended with a Trumpian typo: “I WANT THIS WAR END!”
Zelensky Responds
The Ukrainian leader said on social media this week that he doesn’t expect the diesel deal or the pullback on the Lindsey Graham Act to mark the end of “sanctions relief.”
He went on to praise the late Sen. Graham and his work for Ukraine, saying the senator is missed.
“The decision to undo all of this, to block all of it, seems wrong to me,” Zelensky added. “And it definitely helps only the Russians.”
On Monday, in an interview, Zelensky accused Trump of trying to get Ukraine to “capitulate” to Russia, and of acting with the upcoming midterm elections in mind.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has written thousands of articles on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
