US President Donald Trump has indicated his willingness to participate in a trilateral meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss nuclear arms reductions and potentially trade.
What happened
The proposal for a meeting among the three leaders was initially made by Moscow, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggesting it could take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, China next month.
Trump stated that his primary focus in such a meeting would be on reducing nuclear arms, while also acknowledging that trade could be a topic of discussion. He noted that he has previously called for a new nuclear arms control treaty with Russia following the expiration of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in February.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, expressed concerns that a trilateral meeting without Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy's participation could encourage Putin to continue the war in Ukraine. Trump, however, suggested that he would be willing to hold talks on ending the war without Zelenskyy's involvement.
