{"id":369974,"date":"2025-08-24T14:54:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T14:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/369974\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T14:54:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T14:54:13","slug":"vance-expresses-optimism-that-energetic-diplomacy-will-end-the-war-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/369974\/","title":{"rendered":"Vance expresses optimism that ‘energetic diplomacy’ will end the war in Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vice President JD Vance remains confident the U.S. can broker an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine despite potential hang-ups that have emerged since President Donald Trump\u2019s meeting this month<\/a> with Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe we\u2019ve already seen some significant concessions from both sides, just in the last few weeks,\u201d Vance said in an exclusive interview on NBC News\u2019 \u201cMeet the Press.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vance also weighed in on a Russian missile strike in western Ukraine overnight Thursday that hit an electronics factory owned by a U.S.-based company. Asked by moderator Kristen Welker if he was \u201cenraged\u201d by the strike, which the company said injured several workers<\/a>, Vance pivoted to a criticism of former President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like it,\u201d Vance said of the assault. \u201cBut this is a war, and this is why we want to stop the killing. The Russians have done a lot of things that we don\u2019t like. A lot of civilians have died. We\u2019ve condemned that stuff from the get-go and, frankly, President Trump has done more to apply pressure and to apply economic leverage to the Russians, certainly, than Joe Biden did for 3 \u00bd years, when he did nothing but talk, did nothing to bring the killing to a stop. So you asked me what I\u2019m enraged by? What I\u2019m enraged by is the continuation of the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump told reporters Friday<\/a> that he was not happy about the strikes on western Ukraine and indicated that any peace deal between the countries could be weeks away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think over the next two weeks, we\u2019re going to find out which way it\u2019s going to go,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

During his interview with \u201cMeet the Press,\u201d Vance did not characterize the strike, and a number of other issues, as long-term hindrances to peace, saying there was still plenty of room for negotiation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to eventually be successful, or we\u2019ll hit a brick wall. And if we hit a brick wall, then we\u2019re going to continue this process of negotiation, of applying leverage,\u201d Vance added. \u201cThis is the energetic diplomacy that\u2019s going to bring this war to a close.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welker then asked Vance what the pressure is on Russia if the U.S. is not \u201cimposing new sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you get them to a place of getting to the table with Zelenskyy and stopping to drop bombs?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

Vance replied by saying Trump has applied \u201caggressive economic leverage,\u201d such as \u201csecondary tariffs on India, to try to make it harder for the Russians to get rich from their oil economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by Welker if he could guarantee that the U.S. would not send troops to help enforce any peace deal, Vance reaffirmed Trump\u2019s opposition<\/a> to such a deployment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president has been very clear,\u201d Vance said. \u201cThere are not going to be boots on the ground in Ukraine. But we are going to continue to play an active role in trying to ensure that the Ukrainians have the security guarantees and the confidence they need to stop the war on their end and the Russians feel like they can bring the war to a conclusion on their end.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interview, which aired Sunday, comes amid new, heightened tensions in the effort to end the war.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Russia\u2019s top diplomat told NBC News<\/a> that no meetings between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been scheduled, raising further doubts about Trump\u2019s ability to mediate the conflict.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, details about security guarantees for Ukraine \u2014 and Russia\u2019s role in shaping them \u2014 remain unresolved.<\/p>\n

In the interview, Vance said he doesn\u2019t believe the Russians are stringing Trump along.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Russians have made significant concessions to President Trump for the first time in 3 \u00bd years of this conflict,\u201d he added. \u201cThey\u2019ve actually been willing to be flexible on some of their core demands. They\u2019ve talked about what would be necessary to end the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, Vance added, stepped up efforts to negotiate a diplomatic solution \u201cbecause this war is not in anyone\u2019s interest. It\u2019s not in Europe or the United States\u2019 interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

While acknowledging some of the hurdles that have popped up since Trump\u2019s Aug. 15 meeting with Putin in Alaska, Vance expressed optimism that persistence would deliver results.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are hills and valleys to the negotiations,\u201d Vance said. \u201cWe sometimes feel like we\u2019ve made great progress with the Russians, and sometimes, as the president has said, he\u2019s been very frustrated with the Russians. We\u2019re going to keep on doing what we have to do to bring this thing to a close. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to happen overnight. I think that we\u2019re going to continue to make progress. But, ultimately, whether the killing stops, that determination is going to belong to whether the Russians and Ukrainians can actually find some middle ground here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putin has rejected calls \u2014 including from Trump before their recent meeting<\/a> \u2014 for a ceasefire.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t say they conceded on everything,\u201d Vance said in the interview, referring to Russia. \u201cBut what they have conceded is the recognition that Ukraine will have territorial integrity after the war. They\u2019ve recognized that they\u2019re not going to be able to install a puppet regime in Kyiv. \u2026 Have they made every concession? Of course they haven\u2019t. Should they have started the war? Of course they [shouldn\u2019t have], but we\u2019re making progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about disagreements surrounding how involved Russia will be in establishing security guarantees for Ukraine, Vance asserted that \u201cthere\u2019s a little bit of talking past each other here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, we\u2019re not talking about security guarantees until after the war has come to a close,\u201d Vance said. \u201cAnd, of course, the Russians are going to be a part of the conversation about bringing that war to a close. So, of course, they\u2019re going to have some stake in this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interview with Vance also touched on several domestic issues, including new congressional maps passed by the Republican-controlled Texas House of Representatives<\/a> that could pad the GOP\u2019s majority by as many as five seats. The issue has become a political flashpoint, with California Democrats preparing retaliatory moves and other states aiming to redraw maps, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we\u2019re doing, frankly, is trying to make the situation a little bit more fair on a national scale,\u201d Vance said of GOP efforts. \u201cThe Democrats have gerrymandered their states really aggressively. We think there are opportunities to push back against that, and that\u2019s really all we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the subject of his own political ambitions, Vance again sidestepped questions about whether he sees himself as Trump\u2019s heir apparent in 2028, when the president is term-limited.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see myself as a vice president who\u2019s trying to do a good job for the American people … and if I do a good job, and if the president continues to be successful, as I know that he will be, the politics will take care of itself,\u201d Vance said. \u201cWe can cross that bridge when we come to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welker asked if Vance has discussed the possibility with Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know, the president talks about everything, and if it\u2019s in the news, the president and I have certainly discussed it,\u201d Vance replied. \u201cBut I think the president is just focused on doing a good job for the American people. He wants me to be focused on doing a good job for the American people. That\u2019s what I\u2019ll keep on doing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vice President JD Vance remains confident the U.S. can broker an end to the war between Russia and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[332],"class_list":{"0":"post-369974","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-russia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115084320166545141","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}