Washington — Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that the Trump administration believes Russia is “asking for too much” in its initial offer on a deal to end its war with Ukraine.
During remarks at the Munich Leaders Meeting, the vice president underscored the importance of direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, and said that the U.S. is interested in a “long-term settlement” that would bring a stop to the military confrontation launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin three years ago.
“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. “But this is how negotiations unfold.”
He continued: “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.”
The U.S. and Ukraine said in March that Kyiv was ready to accept a 30-day ceasefire with Russia, an agreement that was reached after a delegation of Trump administration officials held several hours of negotiations with Ukrainian officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. But Vance said that the Russians decided that such a pause was “not in our strategic interest.”
“We’ve tried to move beyond the obsession with the 30-day ceasefire and more on the what would the long-term settlement look like? And we’ve tried to consistently advance the ball,” the vice president said.
Vance said that Mr. Trump is willing to walk away from the negotiations if there is no progress between Ukraine and Russia, but said the two sides need to begin engaging with one another.
“We would like both the Russians and the Ukrainians to actually agree on some basic guidelines for sitting down and talking to one another,” he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last month in an interview with “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that the Kremlin is “ready to reach a deal” with the U.S. on the war in Ukraine and said there are “several signs that we are moving in the right direction.”
While Mr. Trump claimed that he would broker an end to Russia’s war with Ukraine, Russia’s military has continued to launch strikes. The president has repeatedly criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, including calling him a “dictator without elections.” Last month, Mr. Trump attacked Zelenskyy after he said Ukraine would not recognize Russia’s occupation of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, claiming the statement “will do nothing but prolong the ‘killing field.'”
However, later last month, Mr. Trump posted on social media that he was not “not happy” with Russian strikes on Kyiv, imploring Putin to halt the attacks.
“Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”