U.S. President Donald Trump told CNN on Monday that he may consider holding a trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, explaining that the meeting would focus on nuclear disarmament rather than the Russian war in Ukraine.
Trump added, just before leaving the White House for Kansas: "I will do it; not for Ukraine - frankly, Russia was in a good position regarding Ukraine, and they haven't done much there, and the same goes for China."
He continued: "The meeting will be dedicated to discussing nuclear weapons and nuclear disarmament, which is very positive for the world." He mentioned that the meeting could take place around his scheduled trip to China next month to attend the APEC summit in Shenzhen.
Earlier, citing an American official, it was said that Putin suggested holding talks that include both Xi and Trump during a phone call he had with the U.S. president earlier this month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will not participate in the talks proposed by Putin.
Ukraine has criticized the idea of holding a trilateral meeting; Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Monday that such a meeting would not serve peace, but rather "would have the opposite effect: encouraging Putin to continue this war."
Zelensky warned that siding with Russia would be a "historic mistake."
In statements made from the White House on Monday, Trump said that Zelensky "is not helping matters much," leaving the door open for discussions about ending the war with Russia in Zelensky's absence.
Trump said: "I will do anything in my power to end the war, whether there is another party present or not," adding: "Zelensky doesn't understand what he is talking about. He should have ended this war a long time ago, and frankly, I don't believe... I see that it is time for someone else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine; what happened? The front lines have changed very little, while a million people have been killed, which is a huge number of lives."