U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he would consider holding three-way talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, suggesting nuclear disarmament could be a central focus of the meeting.
"We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearization," Trump told reporters outside the White House.
"If President Xi wants to have it, I'd have it."
Trump indicated that nuclear disarmament would be a priority in any such meeting.
"We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearization," he said.
"We have more nuclear weapons than anybody. Russia is second, China is third, but catching up. China was way behind, and now they're catching up. It'll take about probably five years," Trump added.
Asked whether he would meet Putin and Xi to discuss ending the war without Zelenskyy present, Trump said he would do "anything I can do to end the war, whether somebody's there or not."
Earlier Monday, the Kremlin said that Putin, Trump and Xi could hold a three-way meeting on the sidelines of next month's APEC summit in China and that a potential meeting had come up in talks.
Trump also renewed his criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying "it's time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine."
"Maybe it's time for Zelenskyy to get somebody else to negotiate," Trump told reporters.
"Zelenskyy doesn't know what he's talking about. Zelenskyy is a man that should have had this war settled a long time ago. If he would have listened to me, he would have made a much better deal a long time ago," Trump told reporters before departing the White House.
"I think it's time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine because what's happened? A tremendous number of people are dead. They're losing their male population," he said.
"Zelenskyy is not helping matters much. I think he doesn't want to stop it, but I want to see people not die."
"We've given a lot to Ukraine. They've given us nothing," he added.
