Trump made room for the possibility of other topics to be discussed in such a meeting but reiterated that it would be “based on denuclearization.”
“If President Xi wants to have it, I’d have it,” he said. “I’m sure we would talk about other things like trade too but yeah I would do that.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that discussions were taking place over the possibility of a meeting, but there was no “clear understanding” yet about what the potential summit’s agenda would consist of.
The possibility of a high-level summit between the three leaders comes as Trump has waived sanctions on Russia and announced a diesel deal with Putin, while placing the blame for the four-year war on Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who earlier Monday briefed a bipartisan group of lawmakers about the conflict.
“To be honest, I think it is time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine, because what has happened?” Trump said to reporters. “Very little land has moved, but a million people, a tremendous number of people are dead.”