World News
Without Zelensky or Europe: Putin's New Plan for Ukraine
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Putin proposed to Trump and China's president that they discuss ending the war without Ukraine or Europe at the table. Meanwhile, tensions between Washington and Kyiv are rising over strikes inside Russia and the easing of American sanctions.
Putin (Photo: Yonatan Sindel, Flash90)Against the backdrop of deteriorating relations between the United States and Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is pushing for a three-way summit with U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to address ending the war in Ukraine. That was reported overnight (between Sunday and Monday) in the Wall Street Journal.
According to the report, Putin presented the proposal during his call with Trump on October 9, in an attempt to take advantage of the warming ties between them. The Kremlin confirmed that the matter is under discussion and suggested holding the meeting next month in China, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit. Trump has not yet given his consent, but according to the paper he may be open to the idea.
The possibility that Ukraine's future would be discussed without the participation of its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, or European leaders, is likely to draw sharp criticism in the West.
At the same time, the confrontation between Trump and Zelensky is intensifying. The U.S. president demanded that both sides stop striking Russian energy infrastructure, but Kyiv refused, arguing that Moscow is not complying with the demand either. Over the weekend, Ukraine used drones to strike a major oil terminal at the port of St. Petersburg, in one of its largest attacks this year. Russia claimed it intercepted more than 1,000 Ukrainian drones yesterday.
Trump condemned the strikes on Russian diesel refineries, calling them a “disgrace” and saying that Zelensky “doesn't want to end this war, and probably never did.” He even hinted that Ukraine needs a new president.
Meanwhile, Trump lifted sanctions on Russia, spoke directly with Putin, and limited aid to Ukraine. The energy-sector easing could weaken the economic pressure the West has applied to Moscow for years.
In an interview on Meet the Press on NBC News, Zelensky warned that American support for Russia would be a “historic mistake,” and called the removal of sanctions “support for Russian aggression.” He said Ukrainian access to Starlink, which is used to guide drones, had also been restricted, and that intelligence cooperation with the United States was temporarily halted, though it has since been renewed.
