Putin Proposes November Summit With Trump and Xi to Negotiate Ukraine Peace Without Zelensky

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed a three-way summit with U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next month to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine on terms favorable to Moscow, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the discussions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would not be included in the proposed talks.

The proposal comes as Trump has taken a series of steps to keep Russia at the negotiating table. Trump signed an executive order Friday waiving major sanctions and tariffs under the Graham Act, legislation he had signed the prior month designed to intensify economic pressure on Moscow. He also disclosed a diesel export deal struck with Russia, explaining both moves as necessary to prevent Putin from walking away from peace negotiations. Trump separately hinted at a potential hostage deal with Russia but declined to name any specific individual.

The Trump administration has also floated the resumption of large-scale Russian natural gas imports to Europe as part of a broader Ukraine peace framework, with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner reportedly raising the idea with Ukrainian and European officials. The logic is that reopened pipelines would give Moscow an economic incentive to end the war.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking Sunday, said Trump would consider any path to ending the war, though he described details of the proposed summit as unconfirmed. Rubio said intelligence sharing with Ukraine has not been paused and urged both Kyiv and Moscow to focus on ending the conflict, noting that "no one is winning that war" and that people are dying every day. Zelensky, for his part, accused Trump of pushing Ukraine to yield.

Oil prices slid on news of the U.S. sanctions waiver, with markets anticipating that the move could unlock additional Russian fuel supplies. Trump's sanctions rollback drew scrutiny as a reversal of nearly five years of Western economic pressure on Moscow.