Xi Jinping told Donald Trump during their talks last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin might end up regretting his invasion of Ukraine, according to several people familiar with the US assessment of the Beijing summit.
They said the Chinese president made the comments during wide-ranging talks that touched on Ukraine and included Trump suggesting the three leaders should co-operate against the International Criminal Court.
Xi’s comments about Putin’s decision to launch his full-scale invasion of Russia’s neighbour in 2022 appeared to go further than in the past. One person familiar with Xi’s meetings with former president Joe Biden said that while the leaders had held “frank and direct” conversations about Russia and Ukraine, Xi had not offered an assessment of Putin and the war.