U.S. President Donald Trump (R) greets Russian President Vladimir Putin upon his arrival at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson August 15, 2025 in Anchorage, Alaska.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly suggested a summit between himself, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
The meeting was mentioned in an Oct. 9 phone call to Trump, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing a former Russian intelligence officer briefed on the matter. This call also resulted in an agreement allowing Moscow to sell diesel on the global market.
The summit is not confirmed, but if it takes place, it will not involve Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and could take place during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
The report comes amid growing tensions between Ukraine and the United States, its biggest military backer. The Trump administration’s recent moves, which appear to be taking a pro-Russian turn, have alarmed European allies and drawn criticism even from some members of Trump’s Republican Party in the United States.
Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump defended his decision to temporarily lift sanctions on Russian diesel exports, as well as his October 18 executive order to lift new sanctions on Russia following a bill introduced by the late Senator Lindsey Graham.
In an article on X, Zelenskyy said that “the decision to cancel all this, to block everything, seems wrong to me.”
Trump accused Zelenskyy in an article on Truth Social of not wanting to end this war, and said his decision to ease sanctions on Russia was to not “do anything that would stupidly push Russia away from the negotiating table.”
“Trump’s October 16 executive order does not support Trump’s stated foreign policy goals of ending the war in Ukraine and will only allow Russia to continue to finance and prolong the war in Ukraine without any appropriate incentives that could force Russia to engage in meaningful peace negotiations,” the Institute for the Study of War wrote in a report.
Energy strikes
The latest move comes after Trump called on Ukraine to stop hitting Russian energy infrastructure, saying it was driving up diesel prices.
A so-called “energy ceasefire” announced by Trump on October 11 saw Moscow continue its strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure. Ukraine then suspended its strikes for three days, but resumed its attacks last Thursday.
“America must understand that Russia does not take any reciprocal action in response to sanctions relief or agreements. Rather, it views every signal of opportunity to make money as proof that its gamble on war is paying off and that it can continue to fight,” the Ukrainian president wrote on Sunday.
On Sunday, he also told Bloomberg that “steps have been taken to convince Ukraine to capitulate.”
“I’m not saying that this is the goal that our partners are pursuing. I don’t want to think that our American partners believe that the war ‘against Russia’ could end sooner at the expense of Ukraine. But that’s what it looks like.”
Over the weekend, kyiv and Moscow exchanged strikes, with Ukraine launching a more than 1,000 drone strike on Russia, burning down an oil export terminal and a refinery in the city of St. Petersburg, while Moscow pounded kyiv with ballistic missiles.
Starlink and Starshield
Last week, kyiv also accused Washington of ordering restrictions on its Starshield networks, the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink that it uses to control military forces and defend against Russian strikes.
Trump denied Friday that the White House had ordered restrictions on Starlink satellite internet services provided to Ukraine’s armed forces.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk placed blame for any restrictions on the U.S. government and Trump, writing on X that “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S. government.”
The restrictions meant that platforms that moved faster than 160 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour), such as interceptor drones, lost connectivity.
Ukrainian media reported that Zelensky said the restrictions were a “planned operation” because Ukraine had sent Starlink-equipped cars to EU countries to test Starlink connectivity and found there were no such restrictions in those countries.
Reuters reported Thursday, citing two U.S. officials, that the call to restrict Starlink in Ukraine came from the White House, but did not say who made the order.
The Telegraph reported Friday that Musk “approached Donald Trump with the idea of slowing down Starlink in Ukraine,” and both were instrumental in imposing the restrictions.
—CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.
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