Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested holding a three-way summit with US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in November, on the margins of the APEC gathering in China, according to Sky TG24. The proposal was made on Wednesday at the Constantine Palace in St Petersburg, where Putin received US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who arrived in Russia with documents setting out possible elements of a peace settlement for Ukraine.
Why it matters
The offer puts a possible Trump–Putin–Xi meeting on the table for the first time, and it comes as Washington is reported to be pressing Kyiv to accept a deal that would involve territorial concessions in the Donbas. According to the New York Times, as cited in the Sky TG24 coverage, Trump is intensifying pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to terms with Russia that would include ceding land in the Donbas in exchange for economic benefits that have not been specified. Ukraine and several European countries have said they oppose any arrangement on the conflict and on continental security that leaves out Kyiv and its allies.
What was said in St Petersburg
Speaking at the start of the meeting, Putin described the three-way summit as feasible and thanked the American president for his attention to resolving the crisis in Ukraine, Sky TG24 reports. Trump has this week shown openness to taking part in such a meeting, which has been floated for 18 and 19 November in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. Trump has said, however, that the summit should focus on restarting negotiations on nuclear disarmament, with China involved, rather than treating Ukraine as the primary item.
The Kremlin has welcomed Trump's proposal and the case for a new disarmament treaty, but made no reference to China's arsenal, pointing instead to the arsenals of France and the United Kingdom. Beijing has not commented on the summit idea.
Witkoff, for his part, said he had brought documents containing ideas about the various components of what he described as a kind of peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, and that these could be read at leisure. He said he had come to Russia hoping to discuss a resumption of trilateral talks, and that merely raising what might be the next step would be significant in itself. He also said economic cooperation between Moscow and Washington illustrates the opportunities opening up for both countries, without giving further detail.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in an interview with Russian television carried by Interfax, said all the proposals Witkoff brought would be examined by the president, but that much depends on the Ukrainians and how far they are prepared to commit in practice to a peaceful solution.
Diplomacy across two capitals
The St Petersburg meeting followed a trip by Witkoff to Oslo, where he met Zelensky and others, according to the Sky TG24 account. Witkoff is expected to travel to Moscow in the coming days to see Putin. Zelensky also held a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio after tensions over weapons and intelligence; Rubio assured him that the head of the White House had not given any order intended to harm Kyiv.
Other subjects surfaced during the St Petersburg talks. Putin told Witkoff that Russia is ready to contribute to resolving the crisis in Iran, Tass reported. He also announced that the first vessel carrying 40,000 tonnes of diesel for the United States would leave Russia within two or three days. In early October, after a phone call with Putin, Trump announced an agreement on diesel supplies; the US Treasury granted a sanctions waiver to allow the shipments, valid until 7 April.
Europe moves on satellites as Beijing talks peace
After disruptions to Starlink service in Ukraine, the European Union is making its Iris2 satellite system available. Thomas Regnier, the European Commission's spokesman for technological sovereignty and defence, said work on developing and deploying Iris2 is proceeding actively and that it will be a network of more than 300 satellites. He said it will provide secure satellite connectivity for both civilian and military use, and that Ukraine will be fully involved in the project.
China, meanwhile, says it will keep actively promoting peace talks and work towards a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis — the conflict triggered by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022, which Beijing has never explicitly condemned. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning made the statement, according to the Global Times, as Chinese Premier Li Qiang was in Russia during Witkoff's meeting with Putin.
What to watch: whether Moscow responds formally to the proposals Witkoff carried, and whether the Shenzhen dates firm up as a venue for a leaders' meeting.
