Vice President JD Vance Wednesday laid down a brand new stance on Ukraine peace talks that carefully mirrors key Russian positions as Secretary of State Marco Rubio skipped a key assembly with Ukraine and European allies.
Vance piled stress on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by calling on each side to just accept the American framework for peace, which incorporates agreeing to acknowledge Russia’s annexation of Crimea, largely freezing the frontlines of the battle and foregoing future NATO membership.
“It’s time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process,” Vance mentioned. “The only way to really stop the killing is for the armies to both put down their weapons, to freeze this thing and to get on with the business of actually building a better Russia and a better Ukraine.”
Vance sought to painting the rules as requiring concessions from each side, however the plan largely adopts longtime Kremlin speaking factors.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky delivers a press convention in Kyiv on Tuesday amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (TETIANA DZHAFAROVA/AFP through Getty Photographs)
Trump himself lashed out at Zelenskyy for publicly saying he wouldn’t settle for main concessions like recognizing Russian management of Crimea.
“It’s inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy’s that makes it so difficult to settle this war,” he wrote on his social media website. “He has nothing to boast about!”
Each Vance and Rubio have mentioned the U.S. would quickly “walk away” from the talks if no breakthrough is forthcoming.
The Trump administration’s ultimatums appear largely aimed toward Ukraine, though Russian strongman Vladimir Putin has made no main concessions to date and snubbed Trump’s calls for for a ceasefire to permit peace talks to achieve traction.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attends a gathering with President Donald Trump in the course of the G20 summit in Osaka on June 28, 2019. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP through Getty Photographs)
Vance spoke in India hours after Zelenskyy repeated Ukraine’s longstanding refusal to acknowledge Russian sovereignty over Crimea or different occupied lands seized in the course of the three-year Russian invasion.
“This is our territory, the territory of the people of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy mentioned in remarks that apparently irked Trump.
The Ukrainian rejection of the Crimea proposal apparently led Rubio to snub a diplomatic assembly with Ukraine, Britain, France and Germany that had been deliberate for Wednesday in London.
Zelenskyy reportedly hopes to speak to President Trump this weekend as they each are anticipated to attend the funeral of the late Pope Francis.
The Ukrainian chief suffered a serious blow when he acquired embroiled in a shouting match with Trump and Vance at a White Home assembly in February.
Trump briefly reduce off support and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, however resumed after Zelenskyy agreed to a right away stop hearth, a name Putin has rebuffed.
Initially Printed: April 23, 2025 at 1:33 PM EDT
