Trump plans Iran talks with Xi and Putin but not Ukraine, AFP reports

President Donald Trump plans to discuss the Iran war, but not Ukraine, with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin at a three-way meeting next week, a senior U.S. official said Friday.

The White House confirmed Friday that the leaders will meet Thursday, Nov. 19, alongside the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, China. It will be the first-ever meeting of its kind among the leaders of the United States, Russia and China, the world's biggest nuclear powers.

The official briefed reporters anonymously and said Washington has a "whole other track" of talks with Kyiv and Moscow to end the Ukraine war, France 24 reported, citing Agence France-Presse. "China is not really a part of that track, so it doesn't seem appropriate to have the Ukraine discussion there," the official said.

U.S. envoys have spoken with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in recent days, according to the official. Zelenskyy has expressed concern that the leaders could use the Shenzhen meeting to discuss a potential Ukraine deal behind Kyiv's back.

Analysts interviewed by The Associated Press expect the meeting to produce few major breakthroughs and say symbolism will outweigh substance.

"I think the key for Putin was that this was very much about signaling a desire to talk to the president and talk to Chairman Xi in a way that suggests that they’re making decisions on Ukraine, which obviously the Ukrainians and the Europeans don’t like," said Edgard Kagan, a former U.S. ambassador to Malaysia now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Nuclear arms on the agenda

"I think the president does intend to talk about Iran in the trilateral meeting with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin," the official told reporters on a call. Trump has said the gathering would allow the leaders to discuss the U.S. war with Iran and his goal of an agreement among the three countries on nuclear stockpiles.

"The president has made it clear that, among other topics, he will discuss the reduction of nuclear weapons in the world," White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said. "This proliferation, President Trump believes, is very dangerous."

New START, the final nuclear arms pact between Russia and the United States, expired in February. That removed caps on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century. Trump rejected Russia's call for another year on the agreement at the time, seeking a "new, improved and modernized" deal that would include China.

Pentagon estimates put China's nuclear arsenal at more than 600 warheads, while estimates for the U.S. and Russia exceed 5,000 each.

The senior official described the meeting as the "beginning of hopefully a conversation" about nuclear disarmament and said no agreements are expected to be announced.

The official said it was time for China to "step up ... to the adult table" on nuclear stockpiles. The AP reported that Beijing has shown little interest in a nuclear pact, while administration officials acknowledged the subject is difficult for China.

Kremlin dismisses Yalta comparisons

The summit planning has prompted comparisons with the 1945 Yalta Conference, at which U.S., British and Soviet leaders agreed to divide Germany and Berlin into occupation zones.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the comparisons earlier, saying agreements made in Shenzhen cannot be enforced on others. He said "the vision for a global order is that no one tries to impose any particular view of global order."

Trump's schedule

U.S. officials said Trump will depart Washington on Monday and arrive in the Philippines on Tuesday for an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit before traveling to Shenzhen.

Trump will have a working lunch and meeting with Xi on Thursday, their fourth meeting since he returned to power in 2025. No separate one-on-one meeting with Putin is on Trump's schedule.

Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk will accompany Trump to China but will not take part in the meeting with Xi and Putin.