Photo: Andrii Sybiha/Facebook
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has warned that a trilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia, China and the United States without Ukraine’s participation would encourage Vladimir Putin to continue the war.
Sybiha was responding to a report by The Wall Street Journal that Putin had proposed a summit next month with US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss ending the war in Ukraine on terms favorable to Moscow.
“A trilateral meeting of the leaders of Ukraine, the United States and Russia could help end the war sooner. A trilateral meeting of the leaders of Russia, China and the United States would have the opposite effect: it would encourage Putin to continue this war,” Sybiha wrote on X.
He said inviting Putin to such a meeting would feed his megalomania and give him undeserved prominence.
“He is not a world leader, but a war criminal. And Russia is not a world power, but a global problem,” the foreign minister said.
Sybiha noted that Russia’s economy was at least 13 times smaller than that of the United States and eight times smaller than China’s. He said Russia’s economy and living standards were deteriorating, while its technology, industry and businesses were stagnating. Despite losing 1.6 million people killed and wounded, he added, Russia continued to refuse to end the war.
“By any pragmatic or moral measure, Putin has no place at the same table as Presidents Trump and Xi. He could earn that place only by taking a serious step toward peace — for example, agreeing to a ceasefire before such a meeting,” Sybiha said. Instead, he argued, Russia was intensifying its terror against civilians.
As reported by The Wall Street Journal, Putin raised the summit proposal during a phone call with Trump on October 9. The two leaders also discussed US purchases of Russian diesel fuel and facilitating its sale on global markets. The Kremlin did not confirm the report but said all three parties considered such a summit possible.
Following the call, Trump again accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of being unwilling to end the war. Last week, Trump also said he would delay signing a document introducing new sanctions against Russia, citing concerns that they could interfere with peace negotiations.
Zelenskyy, in turn, accused Trump of pressuring Kyiv to make concessions to Moscow. He also warned that restrictions on satellite communications and delays in US missile supplies were weakening Ukraine’s defenses ahead of winter.
