Kremlin Keeps Putin-Trump Meeting on Ice Ahead of APEC Summit

A Putin-Trump summit could be coming to Shenzhen — just don't book the room yet. Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said Monday that no precise arrangements exist for the two presidents to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting.

Peskov explained that bilateral sit-downs tend to get nailed down closer to the event itself. He said Moscow should soon know whether the meeting happens at all. Both Putin and Trump have been speculated as attendees.

One meeting is already on the books: Putin is set to sit down with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to talk through bilateral relations between Russia and China. The APEC leaders' gathering runs November 18 and 19 in Shenzhen.

Peskov also weighed in on the ceasefire in the Russia-held city of Oleshky, saying Ukraine may have used the pause to regroup. Asked whether Russia did the same, he said Kyiv could have — calling it 'normal practice' — and added that no similar truce is currently being planned. Russia has said the Oleshky ceasefire ended without incidents.

The truce wrapped up November 1, according to US First Lady Melania Trump, who brokered it and called the mission a success. In a post on X, she said it delivered critical aid and enabled the evacuation of nearly 800 people, and thanked both Russia and Ukraine for their cooperation.

Trump himself has kept a busy schedule around the diplomatic push, rolling out a $4.3 billion mortgage investment in Kansas by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and an $8 billion harvest fuel relief program for farmers during rallies in Salina and Dubuque. Whether Shenzhen adds a handshake with Putin to that list, the Kremlin says, is still up in the air.