JD Vance: US focused on long-term Ukraine peace, not ceasefire

U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
Photo: AP

The US is shifting its focus away from a 30-day ceasefire in Russia’s war with Ukraine toward shaping a long-term peace settlement, Vice President JD Vance said.

Vance’s comments Wednesday signal that frustration is mounting in the White House after President Donald Trump failed to deliver on his goal of ending the war within the first 100 days in office. The vice president said that Russia is “asking for too much” in negotiations and that, eventually, Moscow and Kyiv would need to talk directly to broker a truce, Bloomberg quotes.

“We’ve tried to move beyond the obsession with a 30-day ceasefire and more on the what would the long-term settlement look like, and we’ve tried to consistently advance the ball,” Vance said at the Munich Leaders Meeting in Washington.

Vance reiterated Trump’s threat to walk away from the table unless an agreement is reached soon, saying “we would like both the Russians and Ukrainians to actually agree on some basic guidelines for sitting down and talking to one another.” The US is “happy to participate in those conversations” but “it’s very important” for Russia and Ukraine to communicate with one another, Vance added.

“I’m not yet that pessimistic on this. I wouldn’t say that the Russians are uninterested in bringing this thing to a resolution. What I would say is, right now, the Russians are asking for a certain set of requirements, a certain set of concessions in order to end the conflict. We think they’re asking for too much,” Vance said.

Vance said last month that both sides would have to make territorial concessions to bring an end to the conflict that was ignited in 2022 when Putin’s forces launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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