Trump says he would meet Xi and Putin, and that Zelensky should field another negotiator

Trump said on 19 October (US time) that he is willing to hold a three-way summit with Xi and Putin. Dong-A Ilbo, citing Reuters, reported that he said: "If President Xi wants a meeting, I will do it." Asked whether he had agreed to a trilateral on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzhen in November, he answered that he had not agreed but would gladly do it, according to Yonhap, Asia Economy and Hankook Ilbo. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 5 ]

Trump said the meeting would not be about Ukraine. According to Yonhap, he said he would go to China in November to discuss denuclearization, and that Xi and Putin wanted to meet on his proposal. Hankook Ilbo quoted him as saying Russia had been fine on Ukraine and had not done much, and that the same was true of China. Hankook Ilbo also reported that he said other issues such as trade would certainly come up. [ 1 , 2 , 5 ]

Trump also said it may be time for Zelensky to put forward someone else to negotiate. Yonhap, Asia Economy and Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that the remark came in response to Zelensky's criticism of Trump's decision to hold back a Russia sanctions bill and of a diesel deal allowing Russian oil exports; Zelensky said Trump was on the "wrong side of history". Trump said Zelensky does not know what he is saying and should have ended the war long ago. He said that if Zelensky had listened to him, a better deal would have been made and one million Ukrainians would have survived. [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 6 ]

Trump said Zelensky is not very helpful and seems not to want to stop the war, adding that he himself does not want people to die. Asked whether he would negotiate without Zelensky present, he said he would do whatever he can to end the war, whether or not someone is there. Hankook Ilbo said that, asked whether he would discuss Ukraine with Xi, Trump said he would but that Xi has not been deeply involved, and that China and Russia have done little compared with what they could have, which he appreciates. [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]

Dong-A Ilbo reported that the Kremlin had said a trilateral with Xi was raised in a Putin-Trump phone call as a possibility around the APEC summit, but that there was no concrete proposal. Kyunghyang Shinmun cited a Wall Street Journal report that Putin proposed meeting Trump with Xi to discuss Ukraine, without Ukraine present. Dong-A Ilbo said Trump said on 16 October that he was negotiating with Russia and China on denuclearization, and that a summit could lead to discussion of a new nuclear arms treaty including China after New START expired in February. [ 1 , 6 ]

Hankook Ilbo said Trump had said on 10 October that he thought it was time for Ukraine to have a new president. Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that Zelensky has criticized the US for reducing the amount of war-related intelligence it provides to Ukraine. [ 5 , 6 ]