# Moscow Pushes for a Putin-Trump-Xi Summit as Trump Says a Ukraine Settlement Is "Closer Than Ever"

Russia's deputy foreign minister for Asia said Moscow wants the three-way meeting to happen, and reports place it at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen on Nov. 18-19, possibly without Ukraine's president.

- Published: 2026-10-23T05:16:29.344Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-10-23/moscow-pushes-for-a-putin-trump-xi-summit-as-trump-says-a-uk
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: geopolitics
- Sources: [Kommersant](https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/9045319), [TASS](https://tass.com/world/2206635), [Polylog editors](https://polylog.news), [Ukrinform](https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/4177315-no-negotiated-peace-possible-while-putin-in-power-hudson-institute-president.html)

"Moscow is aiming for the trilateral meeting of the leaders of Russia, China and the United States to take place," Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said, [Kommersant reported](https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/9045319) in Russian. Rudenko is responsible for Asia-Pacific affairs at the Russian foreign ministry, so his making this statement indicates that Moscow is pursuing the Ukraine talks through its relationship with China.

Trump has encouraged the idea. "We are approaching a settlement of the war. Maybe this time we will manage it. We are closer than ever before," he said, according to the Russian independent Telegram channel [Ostorozhno Novosti](https://t.me/ostorozhno_novosti/56325). Russian state agency [TASS](https://tass.com/world/2206635) reported Trump as saying the conflict is nearing its end. Russian President Vladimir Putin has [proposed meeting Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping](https://political.org/2026/10/18/putin-reportedly-proposes-summit-with-trump-and-xi-to-settle-ukraine-war-without-zelenskyy/) on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzhen on Nov. 18-19. Trump has suggested the meeting could take place without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and no agenda has been agreed.

Kyiv opposes this format. Ukraine's foreign ministry said that a meeting of Ukraine, the United States and Russia could help end the war faster, but that a Russia-China-U.S. meeting [would only encourage Putin](https://www.currenttime.tv/a/33879490.html) to keep fighting. The Ukrainian state agency [Ukrinform](https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/4177315-no-negotiated-peace-possible-while-putin-in-power-hudson-institute-president.html) highlighted comments from the president of the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank, who argued that no negotiated peace is possible while Putin holds power because his rule depends on the war. Each side is promoting the version that serves its bargaining position. Moscow wants a great-power settlement in which Beijing is included and Kyiv is not. Kyiv wants a format in which it, not China, negotiates directly with Russia.

## What this means

Russia's aim is to settle the war with Washington directly, with Beijing as co-guarantor, and to exclude Kyiv and the European capitals from the negotiations. China would gain standing as a broker for Europe's security at no military cost. The European Union would lose its say over terms it is paying for through aid and sanctions. This supports the desk's thesis that the United States and China are the two powers whose agreement now decides outcomes in Europe. It also supports the thesis that Russia's leverage in Eastern Europe holds while the West stays divided. The assets exposed are Ukrainian government bonds, European defense stocks and European gas prices, which would fall on any credible ceasefire. The August 2025 Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska is the nearest precedent. It produced warm statements but no ceasefire. The desk's read: a three-way meeting at or near APEC is more likely than not to be announced, and it produces an agreement to keep talking rather than a ceasefire within the next month. A ceasefire date or a signed line of contact would prove this wrong.

## What to watch

- Whether Beijing publicly confirms its willingness to join the meeting. China's agreement would turn a Russian proposal into a great-power format.
- Statements from Paris, Berlin and Warsaw on being excluded. Open objection would deepen the split between Washington and Europe over Ukraine.
- Prices of Ukrainian government bonds. A rally before the summit would show that investors believe a settlement is near.