U.S. President Donald Trump’s response to Russian President Putin’s proposal of a tripartite “summit” meeting with Chinese President Xi at the APEC meeting next month, seemed to make such a potential meeting more likely. “If President Xi wants to have it, I’d have it,” Trump said in response to reporters asking about the prospect at the White House. “I’m sure we’d talk about other things, like trade, too. But yeah, I would do that.” At another point, Trump had suggested he would be more interested in the issue of “denuclearization” for the three-way discussion at such a meeting, although this is a non-starter for China, in the shadow of the two much greater nuclear-weapon powers.

As to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s non-participation, Trump added, “Zelensky doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Zelensky is a man that should have had this war settled a long time ago. I think it’s time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine.”