White House reveals whether Trump, Putin, and Xi Jinping will discuss Ukraine
Photo: US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (Getty Images)
The White House confirmed that the war in Ukraine will not be discussed during the trilateral meeting of the leaders of the US, China, and Russia in Shenzhen, Reuters reports.
The White House said that during the meeting in China, US President Donald Trump plans to discuss nuclear arms reduction with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
White House spokesperson Olivia Wales explained that the US president considers the proliferation of such weapons a serious threat.
"He will discuss the reduction of nuclear weapons in the world, whose proliferation President Trump believes is very dangerous," Wales said during a conference call with reporters.
The meeting between the three leaders is scheduled for November 19 in China. The talks are expected to take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Shenzhen.
Will the war in Ukraine be discussed?
A US administration official separately said that Trump does not plan to raise the issue of Russia's war against Ukraine. According to the official, Washington has held many meetings with the Russian side recently, while China is not involved in this negotiating track.
"We've had many meetings recently with the Russians, but China is not really a part of that track, so it doesn't seem appropriate to have the Ukraine discussion there," the official explained.
The US president is also not expected to hold a separate bilateral meeting with Putin. Nor is access to Starlink satellite communications, provided by Elon Musk's SpaceX, expected to be discussed.
Musk will accompany Trump on his trip to China but will not take part in the US president's talks with the leaders of Russia and China.
Trump, Putin, and Xi Jinping's talks in China
On November 10, it became known that the trilateral summit between Trump, Putin, and Xi Jinping was at risk due to disagreements between the US and China over the format of the talks.
Beijing insisted on a structured meeting, while Washington wanted a more open discussion. At the same time, China was willing to discuss Ukraine if the issue was included on the agenda in advance.
Later, media reports said that Putin also wanted to use the meeting to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
On November 14, the White House confirmed that the meeting could take place on November 19 in Shenzhen, China.
