China has confirmed discussions about a possible meeting between Xi Jinping, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, potentially bringing the Chinese, US and Russian leaders together during this month’s Apec summit in Shenzhen. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a briefing in Beijing this week that officials were communicating with the relevant parties about arranging the encounter.
Such a meeting could give Moscow an opportunity to draw Washington and Beijing towards its stance on Ukraine, according to Sun Yun, who directs the China program at the Stimson Center. Danny Russel, a former senior state department official in Barack Obama’s administration and now a distinguished fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Trump’s advisers had cautioned him against discussing Ukraine.
The diplomatic developments came as Russia launched further attacks on Ukraine on Saturday, November 7. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had renewed his appeal for allies to deliver missiles quickly for the US-made Patriot air defence system, which Ukraine uses to protect its cities. In his Friday evening address, he said intelligence indicated that Russia was preparing attacks on energy facilities, bridges spanning the Dnipro and civilian infrastructure. Ukrainian forces were preparing their defences, he said.
A Russian missile strike early Saturday damaged a residential building in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported. The capital’s military administration said on Telegram that two people had been injured and that a building containing a kindergarten had also sustained damage. Warnings about possible further attacks continued for hours. Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities have faced almost continuous attacks over the past several weeks.
Alongside the immediate need for air defence supplies, Zelenskyy is seeking precise assurances from western allies about the security assistance Ukraine would receive after the war. In an interview broadcast late Thursday by Ukraine’s private 1+1 television channel, he called for written clarity about how allies would respond if Russia attacked again, including which countries would act, what resources they would provide and when.
His remarks followed two days of meetings in Brussels on postwar security and reconstruction. Ukrainian lead negotiator Rustem Umerov said participants included officials from the United States, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union, together with representatives of the World Bank and US investment group BlackRock. Umerov said the discussions also addressed Russian threats to Ukraine and Europe and coordinated measures to counter them.
Ukraine, Russia and the United States are scheduled to hold three-way talks in Abu Dhabi next week. The planned meeting would be their first trilateral peace discussions since February.
