Vice President JD Vance said Russia is “asking for too much” in negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
“Certainly, the first peace offer that the Russians put on the table, our reaction to it was, ‘You’re asking for too much,’” Vance said at a Munich Security Conference meeting in Washington, D.C. “But this is how negotiations unfold.”
The vice president emphasized he is “not yet a pessimist” on the negotiations and that he thinks Russia is interested in finding a peace deal.
However, the two sides appear to be a long way from reaching a ceasefire deal.
Vance indicated that Ukraine and Russia are not meeting directly with each other and that they will need to do so to reach peace.
Lankford pushes Congress to pass immigration bill to make border security permanent
“They hate each other so much that if you have an hourlong conversation with either side, the first 30 minutes is just them complaining about some historical grievance from four years ago, or five years ago, or 10 years ago,” Vance said.
President Donald Trump’s attempt to end the war in Ukraine have attracted scores of attention and controversy, and Vance has at times been front and center as well.
The pair infamously sparred with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Feb. 28, with Vance accusing Zelensky of being “disrespectful” and not saying thank you for the billions of dollars the U.S. had provided his country.
Both Trump and Vance have been accused of being far too friendly with Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, while piling pressure on the invaded nation.
The man who led the charge to aid Ukraine, former President Joe Biden, said Tuesday that Trump’s approach was “beneath America” and a form of “modern-day appeasement,” warning that “Europe is going to lose confidence in the certainty of America and the leadership of America.”
The Trump administration has suggested Ukraine will need to cede land to Russia, something that Zelensky and Trump critics say is far too lenient to Putin and will reward him for the invasion.
Vance did not address that accusation directly, but did stress his desire to see the conflict end one way or another.
“Our strong view is that the continuation of this conflict is bad for us, it’s bad for Europe, it’s bad for Russia, and it’s bad for Ukraine,” he said.
Meanwhile, U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg said earlier Wednesday morning that Russian President Vladimir Putin is an impediment to reaching a ceasefire.
“I think we’re close,” Kellogg said. “The one man who can deliver it is President Trump — as long as Putin agrees. Right now, probably, our impediment in progress is the president of Russia not agreeing to it.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.