Putin Proposed Trump-Xi Talks on Ukraine Without Zelenskyy

Kevin Lamarque / REUTERS Vladimir Putin is hoping to lure Donald Trump to a Yalta-style superpower summit that would allow him to end the war in Ukraine on the Kremlin’s terms, according to a bombshell report.

The Russian leader has proposed a meeting next month with Trump and China’s Xi Jinping—but without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, sources told The Wall Street Journal .

Putin raised the idea of a three-way summit during a phone call with Trump on Oct.

9, according to a former Russian intelligence officer.

During the same call, Trump agreed to the controversial move to allow Russia to export diesel to global markets in a desperate bid to ease the global oil crisis ahead of the midterms.

Days later, Trump also announced that he would waive congressionally approved sanctions aimed at restricting funding for the Kremlin’s war effort, just two days before they were due to be implemented.

The Journal noted that a meeting between Trump, Putin, and Xi to discuss ending the nearly five-year conflict without Zelensky present would be “unprecedented” and would “send alarm bells” ringing in Europe and elsewhere around the world.

“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,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Journal, confirming discussions about a potential summit.

A senior U.S. official said Trump had not agreed to meet Putin but could be open to the idea because the 80-year-old president is desperate to broker an end to the war.

During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump frequently claimed he would end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine within “one day” of returning to the White House in January 2025.

Russia has suggested holding the meeting between Trump, Putin, and Xi when the leaders gather for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, on Nov.

18-19.

Citing the former intelligence officer, The Journal said Putin had “broad if unrealistic ambitions” for the three-way meeting to become a second Yalta Conference, the 1945 summit when Franklin D.

Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin agreed on the carve-up of Europe after World War II.