US President Donald Trump said on Monday he is willing to sit down with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, even if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not in the room.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump was pressed on whether Zelenskyy would need to attend such a meeting.
He did not rule out talks without the Ukrainian leader. "Whatever I can do to end the war," Trump said.
Trump also raised the possibility of meeting Putin during his planned visit to China in November, saying denuclearisation would be on the agenda.
BREAKING: President Trump says he's willing to meet with Putin and Xi to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, even if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy isn't in the room. "Whatever I can do to end the war," Trump tells a reporter who presses him on whether Zelenskyy would need to attend. Trump also raises the possibility of meeting with Putin during his planned November trip to China, where he says denuclearization will be on the agenda. "If we can do denuclearization, I will have done the world a big, big favor."
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 19, 2026
"If we can do denuclearization, I will have done the world a big, big favor," he said.
Trump has confirmed he will travel to China in November, after hosting Xi in Washington last month. He has said the two leaders will meet again in December at the G20 summit in Miami.
China is also hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen in mid-November, which had already fuelled speculation about a possible three-way meeting involving Putin.
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Denuclearisation is a long-standing Trump theme. Earlier in his second term, he floated talks with Moscow and Beijing on nuclear arms control and proposed that the three powers cut their military budgets. No such talks have been formally scheduled.
Zelenskyy met Trump in Washington in late September. He said he had urged the US president to engage Xi directly on the Ukraine war, arguing that the Chinese leader has influence over Putin.
Zelenskyy also said he was ready to meet Putin and that the White House could help organise a trilateral meeting. Trump's latest comments, however, suggest a format in which Ukraine may not have a seat at the table.
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The war, now in its fifth year, continues to take a heavy civilian toll. Russian strikes on Kyiv in late September killed at least seven people and injured dozens, according to Ukrainian reports.
Moscow has so far shown little sign of softening its demands, and earlier diplomatic efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire.
Neither the Kremlin nor Beijing has commented on Trump's latest remarks. Zelenskyy's office has also not responded publicly.
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