Positions of Russia and Kyiv on ceasefire terms closer than before – Vice President JD Vance
US Vice President James David Vance believes that during the peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, the positions of the parties have converged significantly, and currently, the talks have moved to "haggling over a few square kilometers of territory in one direction or another."
"We have made significant progress. I mean, if you go back to where we were in the beginning where we couldn’t even get the Russians or the Ukrainians to put on paper, what is it that you want in order to settle the conflict? We’ve now gotten that. And we’ve got pieces of paper from the Ukrainians and pieces of paper from the Russians. We’ve actually got them to state their positions. And over time, their positions have gotten closer and closer together. Now, obviously, they’re not perfectly aligned because if they were, the conflict would be over," he stated, speaking at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium in Budapest.
Vance noted that the views of the parties do not yet fully coincide, but he views the continuation of the negotiations optimistically.
"What I would say to both the Russians and the Ukrainians is, you know, we’re talking about haggling at this point over a few square kilometers of territory in one direction or another. Is that worth losing hundreds of thousands of additional Russian and Ukrainian young men? Is that worth an additional months or even years of higher energy prices and economic devastation? We think the answer is clearly no. But it takes, you know, two to tango. So, while Victor and President Trump are going to continue to work towards a peaceful settlement, fundamentally, we can only open the door. The Russians and the Ukrainians have to walk through it," the Vice President remarked.
Vance stated that the US is disappointed with the political leadership of Europe, as Washington does not see interest from them in settling this specific conflict. At the same time, he highly praised the assistance of leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, also noting that some European leaders have helped in the settlement "behind the scenes."
