BEIJING, Aug 27 – China has criticized the US and Russia for asking the country to join nuclear disarmament negotiations. China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, stated that the nuclear forces of the two countries are not at the same level and that their strategic security environment and nuclear policies are different.
China pursues a policy of no first use of nuclear weapons and a nuclear strategy of self-defense, and Beijing will not engage in an arms race with any other country. Guo called for countries with the largest nuclear arsenals to fulfill their special priority responsibilities for nuclear disarmament.
Trump emphasized the importance of denuclearization with Russia and China, stating that the power is too great to let nuclear weapons proliferate. Malaysia’s foreign minister also stated that China would sign up to a Southeast Asian treaty banning nuclear weapons in the region as soon as all documentation is ready.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reiterated that there should be no peace talks to end the Russia-Ukraine war now in its fourth year without representation from his country, and also said Russia should face sanctions if it does not agree to an immediate ceasefire, following a virtual meeting between him, United States President Donald Trump and European leaders.
Zelenskyy delivered the message after the call on Wednesday, two days ahead of a summit between Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska, which comes as part of Washington’s so far failed attempts to end the war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Trump promised to hold trilateral talks with both Ukraine and Russia, if Friday’s summit “goes OK”.
“I would like to do it immediately,” he said. “We’ll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy and myself if they’d like to have me there.”
The US president also vowed that Moscow would face “severe consequences” if Putin did not agree to end its war.
In a joint statement, leaders of the UK, France and Germany said that Russia should face tougher sanctions if it fails to agree to a ceasefire on Friday.
Kyiv must also be given “robust and credible security guarantees” and have no limitations placed on its armed forces or on its cooperation with other countries, they added.
“The Coalition of the Willing is ready to play an active role, including through plans by those willing to deploy a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased.”
The rapid developments came after Trump met virtually with Zelenskyy and other European leaders including France’s Emmanuel Macron and the United Kingdom’s Keir Starmer on Wednesday.
Arranged in a bid for Europe to try and influence Trump’s meeting with Putin on Friday, this second call took place after talks earlier in the day between Zelenskyy, European leaders and the heads of NATO and the European Union.
Thanking German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for hosting the meetings, Zelenskyy said on X that Ukraine and Europe were “cooperating constructively with the United States”.
“I hope that today we have come closer to ending the war and building a guaranteed peaceful future,” he concluded.
Trump and European leaders called their joint meeting a success, with the US president describing it as a “very good call”.
“I would rate it a 10. Very friendly,” he said, speaking during a press conference at the Kennedy Center.
Trump noted that he would be calling Zelenskyy and European leaders immediately following his meeting with Putin.
At a press conference with Merz, Zelenskyy expressed his hope that the Trump-Putin summit would focus on an “immediate ceasefire”.
“Sanctions must be in place and must be strengthened if Russia does not agree to a ceasefire,” he added.
His choice of words, a term commonly used in reference to poker, evoked Trump telling Zelenskyy, “you don’t have the cards” in the infamously hostile news conference at the White House on February 28th.
“He is trying to apply pressure before the meeting in Alaska along all parts of the Ukrainian front,” Zelenskyy suggested. “Russia is trying to show that it can occupy all of Ukraine.”
After the Trump call, Merz, who described the meeting as “exceptionally constructive”, stressed that Ukraine is willing to negotiate, but noted that “legal recognition of Russian occupation is not up for debate”.
US President Donald Trump speaks during the unveiling of the Kennedy Center Honors nominees on August 13, 2025, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the US [Mandel Ngan/ AFP]
“The principle that borders cannot be changed by force must continue to apply,” Merz said.
“Negotiations must include robust security guarantees for Kyiv,” he added. “The Ukrainian armed forces must be able and remain able to effectively defend the sovereignty of their country. They must also be able to count on Western aid in the long term.”
After the online meeting, France’s Macron said Trump would be seeking a ceasefire in Ukraine during his meeting with Putin on Friday.
The US president would also seek a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy in the future, the French president noted.
The Trump-Putin summit in Alaska has been a cause for anxiety in Kyiv and Europe more widely, after Trump declared that both Ukraine and Russia would have to swap land if a truce is to be reached.
Speaking from the UK on Wednesday, JD Vance, the US vice-president, seemed to try to allay fears in Europe.
“I just talked to him [Trump] right before I came on the stage, and he said very simply that we are going to make it our mission as an administration to bring peace to Europe once again,” Vance said.
Reporting from Berlin, Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen said there was “some optimism” in Europe that Trump had agreed to Wednesday’s meeting.
However, Vaessen noted that European leaders were still “concerned that everything changes as soon as President Trump is in that room with President Putin, who they know is a very keen, a very sharp negotiator”.
Elsewhere, the Russian Foreign Ministry sought to downplay the relevance of Europe’s last-minute diplomatic efforts with Trump, branding them “practically insignificant”.
On the battlefield, Russia has claimed to have captured the villages of Suvorovo and Nikanorovka as its gains in Donetsk continue, with the Ukrainian authorities issuing evacuation orders for around a dozen settlements.
The Kremlin’s forces achieved their largest 24-hour advance in more than a year on Tuesday, according to data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak, from left to right, meet on Saturday at Chevening House in Kent, England, along with representatives from France, Germany, Italy, Finland and Poland to discuss a route to peace in Ukraine. Photo via UK Foreign Secretary/UPI | License Photo
Aug. 9 (UPI) — U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy and U.S. Vice President JD Vance met with Ukrainian officials and others to discuss ending the war when Russia attacked its neighbor in February 2022.
Ukraine Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak and Ukraine Defense Secretary Rustem Umerov joined Lammy and Vance on Saturday to discuss matters in Ukraine and its defensive war with Russia.
“The U.K.’s support for Ukraine remains ironclad as we continue working toward a just and lasting peace,” Lammy said Saturday in a post on X.
The meeting occurred at Lammy’s official residence in Kent, England, where Vance is staying with his family through the weekend.
Yermak and Umerov were invited to join Lammy and Vance on short notice and ahead of Friday’s scheduled summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also might join the meeting with Trump and Putin, but he has not been invited as of Saturday evening.
Officials from the European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and NATO also attended Saturday’s meeting at Lammy’s official residence, the BBC reported.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not join the meeting, but he talked with Zelensky by phone before it occurred.
Starmer and Zelensky agreed the meeting at Lammy’s residence is an important prelude to Friday’s scheduled summit in Alaska, Starmer’s office said in a news release.
Zelensky afterward told Ukrainians Putin is the only one standing in the way of ending the war.
“His only card is the ability to kill, and he is trying to sell the cessation of killings at the highest possible price,” Zelensky said during a national address.
He also dismissed the notion of a cease-fire instead of ending the war.
“What is needed is not a pause in the killings but a real, lasting peace,” Zelensky said.
He said Trump supports an immediate cessation of hostilities and said the United States has the “leverage and determination” to make it happen via sanctions against Russia.
Putin “fears sanctions and is doing everything to bail on them,” Zelensky said.
“He wants to exchange a pause in the war, in the killings, for the legalization of the occupation of our land,” Zelensky told Ukrainians.
“We will not allow this second attempt to partition Ukraine.”
Aug. 6 (UPI) — President Donald Trump said he will work to schedule a trilateral meeting soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump announced his intent to meet with the leaders of the warring nations as early as next week after special Envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin on Wednesday.
“Steve Witkoff just had a highly productive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “Great progress was made.”
Witkoff and Putin met ahead of Friday’s Trump-imposed deadline for a cease-fire in Ukraine.
Trump said he apprised some of the nation’s allies in Europe of the meeting’s content.
“Everyone agrees this war must come to a close,” he said, “and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come.”
The president also said he would meet with Putin as early as next week and afterward wants to meet with Putin and Zelensky at the same time, The New York Times reported.
Trump and Zelensky spoke by phone after the Witkoff-Putin meeting and said “it seems Russia is more inclined toward [a] cease-fire,” as reported by CNN.
Putin called the meeting “constructive and useful,” Russian state media outlet TASS reported.
“Putin conveyed some signals to the United States on the Ukrainian issue,” the Kremlin told state-controlled RIA Novosti.
Witkoff and Putin met for about three hours after Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on nations that buy oil from Russia if a cease-fire isn’t declared by Friday.
He also announced a 25% tariff on India for buying and reselling “massive amounts of Russian oil” and intends to increase the tariff to 50% in three weeks, The Washington Post reported.
Trump says such trade with Russia funds its war against Ukraine, which Russia started on Feb. 24, 2022.
![US President Donald Trump speaks during the unveiling of the Kennedy Center Honors nominees on August 13, 2025, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC [Mandel Ngan/ AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/afp_689cc06e83dc-1755103342.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
