Putin reportedly suggested to Trump during an October 9 phone call that the three leaders meet to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war, according to the Wall Street Journal citing a former Russian intelligence officer briefed on the matter. The proposed summit would exclude Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and might occur in November at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China. The meeting remains unconfirmed.
The reported proposal comes as the Trump administration has taken steps that allies and some Republicans view as favoring Russia. Trump temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian diesel exports and issued an executive order on October 18 waiving new Russia sanctions from legislation introduced by late Senator Lindsey Graham. The October 9 call also produced a deal for Moscow to sell diesel oil on the global market.
Trump defended the sanctions relief, stating he did not want to "drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table." He accused Zelenskyy of not wanting to end the war. Zelenskyy countered on social media that undoing the sanctions "seems wrong to me." He told Bloomberg that "steps have been taken to convince Ukraine to capitulate" and expressed concern that the war could be "ended sooner at Ukraine's expense."
The Institute for the Study of War argued that Trump's October 16 order "will only enable Russia to continue financing and protracting the war in Ukraine without any proper incentives" for negotiations.
Tensions escalated further over Starlink restrictions. Reuters reported that the White House ordered limits on Starshield, the military-grade version of SpaceX's Starlink service, preventing platforms traveling above 100 miles per hour from accessing connectivity. This affected Ukrainian interceptor drones. Trump denied ordering the restrictions. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk pinned responsibility on the U.S. government, but the Telegraph reported that Musk approached Trump with the idea and both had a hand in imposing the limits.
Ukrainian media reported Zelenskyy saying the restrictions were a "planned operation," noting that Starshield worked without restrictions in EU countries. A Reuters report citing two U.S. officials confirmed the White House ordered the restrictions but did not name who made the decision.
Over the weekend, Ukraine launched strikes with over 1,000 drones into Russia, hitting an oil terminal and refinery in St. Petersburg. Moscow responded with ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv. A so-called "energy ceasefire" Trump announced October 11 saw Moscow continue strikes while Ukraine paused for three days before resuming attacks.