Trump, Xi and Putin to meet in Shenzhen — Ukraine not on the agenda

Europe Daily Brief · published 28 h ago · found by searching “Europe sidelined Trump Putin deal”

Trump, Xi and Putin to meet in Shenzhen — Ukraine not on the agenda

Trump, Xi and Putin Meet in Shenzhen — No Ukraine on the Agenda | Europe Daily Brief

What the site found

Not propaganda · agenda: US-Russia talks decide Ukraine's fate

Belief the Pravda network pushes: Russia and the United States should negotiate Ukraine's future without Europe, while Ukraine and the West block peace and threaten Russia.

The video neutrally reports the confirmed Trump–Putin–Xi meeting in Shenzhen, its nuclear and Iran agenda, Washington's statement that Ukraine is not on it, Moscow's contrary claim, and Europe's response, including naming its own negotiating team.

The video says · at 4:11 · quote checked against the transcript

“Washington says Ukraine is not on the agenda. Moscow says its president will raise it.”

Washington says Ukraine is not on the agenda. Moscow says its president will raise it.

It attributes every claim to named officials, gives both the American and Russian positions and Europe's red line ('no discussions about Ukraine without Ukraine'), and does not say that the US and Russia should decide Ukraine's fate or that Ukraine and the West are blocking peace, so it does not repeat the Pravda slant.

The Pravda stories it echoes

Closest stories from the Pravda network, by meaning. Each links to the site’s comparison with trusted Lithuanian news.

26 days ago · Aleksandras Kocas: Daily Pulse. Main - Third is not unnecessary - Putin proposed to Trump and Xi Jinping to meet trilaterally and discuss end of Ukraine conflict M low F low 4 verified differences

22 days ago · Europe fears Shenzhen. Trump, Putin and Xi meeting at APEC summit not yet confirmed, but European media already actively criticizes it M low F medium 4 verified differences

22 days ago · Russian vision of world order - that no one imposes any world order on anyone M low F low 3 verified differences

5 days ago · Europe shares a seat at a table to which it was not invited M medium F medium 2 verified differences

23 days ago · Lithuanian leader criticized possible meeting of Russian, Chinese and US leaders without Kyiv's participation M low F medium 3 verified differences

6 days ago · Russia, USA and China submit proposals for possible leaders' meeting agenda M low F low 2 verified differences

Transcript (en, 398 lines)

0:00 Reporting for Europe Daily Brief.

0:02 On Friday, the White House confirmed

0:04 something that is never happened before.

0:06 Next Thursday in the Chinese city of

0:08 Shenzhen, the leaders of the United

0:10 States, Russia, and China will sit down

0:12 together in the same room.

0:14 Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Xi

0:16 Jinping will hold the first ever

0:18 three-way meeting of the three

0:20 countries.

0:21 Nuclear weapons will be on the agenda.

0:23 So will the war in Iran. Ukraine will

0:25 not. And on the very same day, Europe

0:28 named its own team for the Ukraine talks

0:30 in Dublin. The confirmation came on

0:32 Friday the 13th of November from the

0:34 White House. Assistant Press Secretary

0:37 Olivia Wales told reporters that

0:38 President Trump will conclude his visit

0:40 to China with a trilateral meeting

0:42 between the President of the United

0:44 States, the President of the People's

0:45 Republic of China, and the President of

0:48 the

0:48 Russian Federation.

0:50 That is the formal language. In plain

0:52 terms, the three most powerful nuclear

0:54 states on Earth will meet face-to-face

0:57 together for the first time. The meeting

0:59 will take place on Thursday the 19th of

1:01 November on the sidelines of the

1:03 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit

1:05 in Shenzhen, which runs from the 18th to

1:07 the 19th of November with Xi Jinping

1:10 hosting and chairing the gathering.

1:12 Shenzhen is China's great technology

1:14 hub. The summit is Xi Jinping's stage,

1:17 and the two most powerful visitors in

1:18 the world are coming to his city on his

1:21 terms.

1:22 So what will they talk about?

1:24 The White House says President Trump

1:25 wants to talk about reducing nuclear

1:27 arsenals. Wales said the President

1:29 considers nuclear weapons very dangerous

1:31 and that reducing them is among the

1:33 topics he will raise. But the

1:35 administration is setting expectations

1:36 low from the start.

1:38 A senior American officer told reporters

1:40 in the words carried by the Associated

1:42 Press and Reuters, we do not expect to

1:44 get to any kind of agreement. The

1:46 meeting is an entry point, not a deal.

1:49 The nuclear question matters now because

1:51 the guard rails are gone. The last

1:53 treaty limiting American and Russian

1:54 nuclear weapons, known as New START,

1:57 expired on the 5th of February of this

1:59 It had capped each side at 1,550

2:02 deployed strategic warheads, and it

2:04 allowed inspections on the ground.

2:07 With it gone, for the first time in more

2:08 than 50 years, there are no binding

2:11 limits on the two largest nuclear

2:12 arsenals in the world. But there is a

2:14 problem at the heart of the idea, and it

2:17 is China.

2:18 The United States and Russia each hold

2:20 more than 5,000 nuclear warheads in

2:22 total, according to Pentagon estimates.

2:25 China holds about 600.

2:27 Beijing has long been reluctant to

2:28 discuss limits on its stockpile

2:30 alongside two countries whose arsenals

2:32 are many times larger. And analysts say

2:35 a three-way cap is an unlikely prospect

2:38 for that reason.

2:39 President Trump has spoken for years

2:41 about a three-way nuclear deal.

2:43 The gap in the numbers is why it has

2:44 never happened. The second item on the

2:46 agenda is the war in Iran.

2:49 A senior American official told the

2:50 Associated Press that President Trump

2:52 plans to raise the war in Iran with both

2:54 Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.

2:57 The White House has not spelled out what

2:59 it wants from either leader on Iran.

3:01 What is clear is that the president

3:02 intends to use the room for it.

3:05 Iran is a subject on which Washington,

3:07 Moscow, and Beijing have very different

3:09 interests and very different

3:10 relationships with Tehran.

3:12 And then there is the subject that will

3:14 not be discussed, at least according to

3:16 Washington.

3:17 The same senior American official said

3:19 President Trump does not plan to discuss

3:21 the war in Ukraine with Xi Jinping and

3:23 Vladimir Putin in China.

3:25 The official's explanation, as reported

3:27 by the Associated Press, was that China

3:29 is not really a part of that track, so

3:32 it does not seem appropriate to have the

3:33 Ukraine discussion there.

3:35 In the American view, the Ukraine

3:37 negotiations run on a separate track

3:39 through the envoys shuttling between

3:41 Moscow, Abu Dhabi, and Dublin. But

3:43 Moscow is telling a different story, and

3:46 that is where the tension begins.

3:48 Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on

3:50 Thursday the 12th of November that

3:52 President Putin will discuss the whole

3:53 picture on ending the conflict in

3:55 Ukraine with President Trump at the

3:57 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

3:59 Summit.

4:00 Ushakov said the discussion of the full

4:02 range of issues related to a settlement

4:04 will continue during the planned meeting

4:06 in Shenzhen.

4:07 No representatives from Ukraine or

4:09 Europe will take part.

4:11 Washington says Ukraine is not on the

4:13 agenda.

4:14 Moscow says its president will raise it.

4:16 In Kiev, that contradiction is exactly

4:18 what worries people.

4:20 President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned

4:22 that the summit could become a place to

4:23 discuss a deal on Ukraine without Kiev

4:26 in the room.

4:27 He has said there is no question of

4:28 deciding anything about Ukraine without

4:30 Ukraine.

4:32 Edgar Kagan, a former American

4:34 ambassador to Malaysia, who is now at

4:36 the Center for Strategic and

4:37 International Studies,

4:39 said President Putin wants to signal

4:40 that big decisions on Ukraine are being

4:42 made in rooms like this one,

4:44 and that Ukrainians and Europeans will

4:46 not welcome that.

4:48 Some have reached for a historical

4:49 comparison, and it is a loaded one.

4:52 Commentators have compared the planned

4:53 meeting to the Yalta Conference of 1945,

4:56 when the leaders of the United States,

4:58 Britain, and the Soviet Union redrew the

5:00 map of Europe.

5:02 Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has

5:04 rejected the comparison.

5:06 He said any understanding reached in

5:07 Shenzhen could not be forced on others,

5:10 and that global order should rest on

5:12 mutual respect and benefit.

5:14 The comparison itself tells you what is

5:16 at stake.

5:17 Before Shenzhen, there is a journey, and

5:19 the journey itself tells a story.

5:22 President Trump will leave Washington on

5:23 Monday, the 16th of November.

5:25 He arrives in the Philippines on

5:27 Tuesday, the 17th for a summit of the

5:29 Association of Southeast Asian Nations,

5:32 where he will attend a special summit

5:33 between the United States and the

5:34 Association

5:36 and hold a bilateral meeting with

5:37 President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

5:40 He will land in Manila late in the day

5:42 and then fly on to China.

5:44 In Shenzhen, he is scheduled to attend

5:45 an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

5:48 Leaders Dinner, and on Thursday, he will

5:50 hold a bilateral meeting and a working

5:51 lunch with Xi Jinping before the

5:54 three-way meeting later in the day.

5:56 No separate one-on-one meeting between

5:58 President Trump and President Putin is

6:00 scheduled in Shenzhen.

6:01 The trilateral meeting is the meeting

6:03 with President Putin.

6:04 Details of the format and venue have not

6:06 been released. We do not know how long

6:08 they will sit together or whether they

6:10 will speak to reporters afterwards.

6:12 That bilateral meeting with Xi Jinping

6:14 matters in its own right.

6:16 The two leaders met in Beijing in May

6:18 and in Washington in September, and

6:20 Shenzhen will be their latest meeting

6:21 since President Trump returned to power.

6:24 Trade is expected to feature heavily,

6:26 including whether to extend a trade

6:28 truce between the two countries that

6:29 runs through January of next year.

6:32 For Xi Jinping, Shenzhen is a home game.

6:35 He chairs the meeting, he sets the tone,

6:37 and the summit itself is his to run. To

6:40 understand why this week matters so

6:41 much, you have to go back just a few

6:43 days to Abu Dhabi.

6:45 On the 10th and 11th of November,

6:47 Russian, Ukrainian, and American

6:49 negotiators held two days of trilateral

6:51 talks in the United Arab Emirates, the

6:53 first of their kind since February.

6:56 The talks ended with no breakthrough on

6:57 territory, but they did produce one

6:59 thing. A large-scale prisoner exchange

7:02 was agreed in principle, reported at

7:04 1,000 to 1,500 prisoners from each side

7:08 and expected within two to three weeks.

7:10 The number has not been finalized.

7:12 Behind those talks sits a document that

7:14 has shadowed everything since.

7:16 A 28-point plan has been reported under

7:18 which Ukraine would cede land and

7:20 renounce its ambition to join the North

7:22 Atlantic Treaty Organization.

7:24 We stress that this is a reported plan

7:26 only. It is not been agreed, it is not

7:29 been signed, and Kyiv has not accepted

7:31 it.

7:32 But its existence shapes the fear in

7:34 European capitals.

7:35 If such a plan is circulating, then a

7:37 meeting in Shenzhen without Ukraine and

7:39 without Europe looks like the place

7:41 where it could be discussed. That fear

7:43 is the reason Europe moved first. On the

7:46 very day the Shenzhen meeting was

7:47 confirmed in Dublin on Friday the 13th

7:50 of November, European Council President

7:52 Antonio Costa announced that Europe has

7:55 named its own team for the next round of

7:57 Ukraine talks.

7:58 The team will be the institutions of the

8:00 European Union plus five countries, the

8:02 United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy,

8:06 and Poland, the five members of the

8:08 coalition of the willing that backs

8:10 Costa told a news conference that Europe

8:12 must speak with one clear voice and

8:15 united voice in all discussions that

8:17 shape the future of Ukraine and the

8:19 security of our continent. The German

8:21 chancellor made the anxiety plain.

8:23 Friedrich Merz pleaded on Friday for

8:25 President Trump to create no surprises

8:27 during the expected talks with President

8:29 Putin in China next week.

8:31 His words, as reported by Al Jazeera and

8:33 the news agencies, were direct. Please,

8:36 no surprises. Continue to play as part

8:38 of team Europe and team Ukraine.

8:41 Merz said some in Dublin fear a second

8:43 anchorage moment, a reference to the

8:45 Alaska summit where European leaders

8:47 were stunned by President Trump's

8:48 overtures to the Russian leader without

8:50 Ukrainian or European envoys present.

8:53 Inside the European institutions, the

8:55 argument about who speaks for Europe is

8:57 still open.

8:58 The European Union's top diplomat, Kaja

9:01 Kallas, laid claim to the envoy role on

9:03 Friday, telling reporters, I am the one

9:05 who is representing Europe in the

9:07 foreign and security policy.

9:09 She added that it is not up to Russia to

9:11 say who should represent the European

9:12 Union, and she noted that the Russians

9:15 do not want her in the role.

9:17 Al Jazeera's reporting from Dublin also

9:19 noted that there is not unanimous

9:20 support behind her, with many seeing her

9:22 as uncompromising on Russia. Moscow, for

9:25 its part, has not accepted the European

9:27 team. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov

9:30 said on Friday that Moscow must first

9:32 understand the Europeans' intentions and

9:34 their readiness to contribute to peace

9:36 before deciding on talks in an expanded

9:38 format.

9:39 He added that President Putin has never

9:41 refused to engage with the Europeans and

9:43 that if the Europeans truly have someone

9:45 authorized to hold discussions, Moscow

9:47 would be prepared to talk with that.

9:49 But no decision has been made and no

9:52 concrete discussions have taken place.

9:54 Europe has picked its team, the Kremlin

9:56 has said. In effect, we will see. The

9:59 American envoys are caught in the middle

10:01 of that argument. In Moscow on Thursday,

10:04 Jared Kushner said he had begun

10:05 discussions with European partners on

10:07 Europe's security architecture, the

10:09 framework for how the continent will be

10:11 defended after any settlement.

10:13 Kushner also made a striking admission

10:15 this week.

10:16 He said that if Europe could identify

10:18 one person to speak on their behalf,

10:20 that would be a bigger achievement than

10:21 getting the Russians to include them in

10:23 the negotiation.

10:24 After years of war, the hardest problem

10:27 may not be Russia. It may be Europe

10:29 agreeing on one voice.

10:31 That is why the Shenzhen meeting

10:32 frightens European capitals, even though

10:34 Ukraine is not on its agenda.

10:37 The fear is about precedent.

10:38 If the three leaders can meet to discuss

10:40 nuclear weapons and the war in Iran,

10:42 then the format exists, the photograph

10:44 exists, and the habit exists.

10:47 The next time, the subject could be

10:49 Ukraine, and the same three leaders

10:51 could be in the same room again without

10:53 Kyiv and again without Europe.

10:56 German Chancellor Friedrich Merz put the

10:57 European red line in Dublin. There will

11:00 be no discussions about Ukraine without

11:02 Ukraine and no discussions about Europe

11:04 without Europe.

11:05 So let us be clear about what Shenzhen

11:07 is and what it is not. It is a first

11:10 ever meeting of the three leaders, and

11:12 that alone makes it historic. It is not

11:14 a summit with a communiqué, and it is

11:16 not a negotiation with a deal at the end

11:18 of it.

11:19 American officials have said so

11:20 themselves in plain language. No

11:23 agreement is expected. The meeting is an

11:25 entry point, a starting point for longer

11:27 negotiations on nuclear weapons and a

11:30 chance to raise Iran with both leaders

11:32 at once.

11:33 Anyone who tells you next Thursday will

11:35 produce a treaty is telling you

11:36 something the White House itself has not

11:38 claimed. Here is what to watch on

11:40 Thursday.

11:41 Watch whether the bilateral meeting and

11:43 working lunch with Xi Jinping produces

11:45 anything on trade and whether the trade

11:47 truce is extended.

11:49 Watch whether Ukraine comes up despite

11:50 the American insistence that it is not

11:52 on the agenda. And listen to what each

11:54 side says afterwards because Washington

11:57 and Moscow already described the same

11:59 meeting differently.

12:00 Watch the photograph and ask who is

12:02 missing from it. And watch Dublin and

12:04 Brussels the morning after because

12:06 Europe's reaction to whatever is said in

12:08 Shenzhen will tell you whether the team

12:09 named on Friday is a real negotiating

12:12 force or a list of names on a page.

12:14 The next round of Ukraine talks is

12:16 supposed to include that European team,

12:18 the institutions of the European Union

12:20 plus the United Kingdom, France,

12:22 Germany, Italy, and Poland. But no date,

12:25 venue, or representative has been named,

12:28 and Moscow has not agreed to an expanded

12:31 The envoys, Steve Wittkopf and Jared

12:33 Kushner, will keep shuttling. To recap

12:35 then, on Friday the 13th of November,

12:38 the White House confirmed that Donald

12:39 Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinping

12:42 will hold the first ever three-way

12:44 meeting of their countries on Thursday

12:46 the 19th of November in Shenzhen.

12:49 The agenda is nuclear weapons and the

12:51 war in Iran.

12:52 Ukraine, according to Washington, is not

12:55 on it, though Moscow says its president

12:57 will raise it.

12:58 No agreement is expected.

13:00 Europe, on the same day, named its team

13:03 for the Ukraine talks and asked

13:05 President Trump for no surprises.

13:07 The meeting has not happened yet.

13:09 Nothing has been decided,

13:11 but the room is set and the whole of

13:13 Europe will be watching.

Judged by claude-sonnet-5.5-eu on 2026-11-14 21:18 UTC. A flag means “worth a look”; a person decides.