Zelensky: Trump, Xi and Putin meeting must not become Yalta-2

Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday, October 28, that a possible meeting of the leaders of the United States, China and Russia next month could turn into a new division of the world into spheres of influence.

This is reported by DW.

According to Zelensky, Kyiv “very much does not want” this meeting to turn into “Yalta-2, 3, 4” with a redistribution of influence. Ukraine wants its own trilateral talks with representatives of the US and Russia in Abu Dhabi to take place first.

“We very much do not want this to turn into ‘Yalta-2, 3, 4’ with a redistribution of influence,” Zelensky said.

Zelensky noted that the agenda of the meeting between Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin has not yet been determined. Nevertheless, according to him, “they will certainly talk about the Middle East. They will certainly talk about Ukraine.” He was referring to the 1945 Yalta Conference, at which Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill divided post-war Europe without the participation of small countries.

Who benefits from this

Zelensky said that Moscow is the most interested in the meeting. “After Alaska, this would be another major diplomatic advantage for Russia, if everything goes the way the Russians are presenting it now, in line with their aspiration for a new ‘Yalta,'” he said, according to RBC-Ukraine. He said he sees no benefits for China. He also noted that today’s fragmented, technologically advanced world cannot be divided among three powers the way it was after World War II.

“We would very much like our meeting in Abu Dhabi to take place before it,” he added.

The date of the talks in Abu Dhabi has not yet been set, DW notes. Zelensky made these statements on his way to The Hague, where the Dutch government promised Ukraine 1.2 billion euros in non-military aid.

A summit whose format has not yet been determined

According to The Wall Street Journal, Putin proposed holding a meeting in a trilateral format during a phone call with Trump on October 9. As Asia Times reports, it is planned to be organized on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzhen on November 18–19. Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov said on October 25 that Moscow, Beijing and Washington are “in principle” ready for the meeting and that preparations have already begun. According to him, the agenda has not yet been agreed, Eastern Herald reports.

The three sides have different expectations for the meeting. Trump has said he wants to focus on nuclear arms control. Putin is framing the conversation around ending the war in Ukraine, while China has repeatedly rejected trilateral talks on nuclear weapons, Modern Diplomacy writes. China’s Foreign Ministry said it has “nothing to report.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called comparisons with Yalta “incorrect.” According to him, the US wants to discuss nuclear disarmament, to which China objects, The Business Standard writes. Ukraine was not invited, and Kyiv fears that the country’s fate could be decided without its participation.