Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly delivered a striking message to President Trump during talks last week in Beijing: Vladimir Putin may ultimately come to regret invading Ukraine.
According to a report from the Financial Times, Xi privately warned Trump that Russia’s 2022 invasion could end up becoming a major long-term strategic failure for Moscow as the war drags deeper into economic strain, military exhaustion, and growing instability inside Russia itself.
If accurate, the remarks would mark one of the most notable signs yet that Beijing may be quietly reassessing the trajectory of the war, even while publicly maintaining its partnership with Moscow.
China has spent years carefully avoiding direct criticism of Putin or Russia’s invasion. Xi and Putin famously declared a “no-limits” partnership just weeks before Russian forces crossed into Ukraine more than four years ago. Since then, Beijing has largely blamed NATO expansion and Western policy for the conflict while continuing economic and diplomatic engagement with Moscow.
That makes Xi’s reported comments especially noteworthy.
Putin is scheduled to arrive in China this week for another summit with Xi, underscoring that the relationship between the two powers remains strategically important despite growing pressure from the West. But behind the scenes, China appears increasingly aware that Russia’s war is becoming far more costly and uncertain than many initially expected.
The Financial Times report also revealed another interesting detail from the Trump-Xi discussions. According to the paper, Trump proposed that the United States, China, and Russia cooperate against the International Criminal Court, which conservatives and many Trump allies view as an unaccountable global institution hostile to national sovereignty.
The ICC has faced intense criticism from the Trump administration in the past, particularly after investigations involving American personnel and U.S. allies.
Neither the White House nor the Chinese Embassy publicly commented on the report.
Xi’s remarks reportedly came as Ukraine continues dramatically expanding its long-range drone warfare campaign deep inside Russian territory. Over the past several months, Ukrainian forces have increasingly targeted oil refineries, fuel depots, logistics hubs, and military infrastructure hundreds of miles from the front lines.
The attacks are beginning to expose weaknesses inside Russia’s domestic defenses.
Politico reported that Ukraine launched more than 1,300 drones over the weekend alone in one of the largest coordinated deep-strike operations since the war began. The strikes reportedly disrupted civilian air traffic around Moscow and targeted key infrastructure connected to Russia’s war economy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attacks prove Russia can no longer fully shield its own capital from retaliation.
Meanwhile, economic pressure inside Russia is steadily mounting.
Russia’s economy contracted during the first quarter of 2026, while falling energy revenues continue weakening one of the Kremlin’s primary sources of wartime funding. Western sanctions, combined with repeated strikes on fuel infrastructure, have intensified the strain.
Military analysts cited by The Economist now describe the conflict as potentially approaching an “inflection point,” with Russia reportedly suffering net territorial losses after long periods of grinding advances.
Even some pro-Russian commentators have acknowledged that Moscow’s air defenses and internal logistics networks are under increasing stress as Ukraine’s drone capabilities evolve rapidly.
The Kremlin continues publicly projecting confidence and insists the war remains manageable. But signs of fatigue are becoming harder to ignore, both economically and militarily.
If Xi truly warned Trump that Putin may regret launching the invasion, it could reflect a broader realization inside Beijing that Russia’s prolonged war is no longer strengthening China’s geopolitical position the way some may have expected in 2022.
Instead of a quick victory that weakened Western influence, the war has produced a heavily armed Europe, expanded NATO, intensified economic fragmentation, and created long-term instability across global energy and trade systems.
And now, even China may be quietly wondering whether Putin walked into a strategic trap of his own making.
