Vice President JD Vance stated on Sunday that the United States is eager to arrange a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin for significant peace talks—but only under President Trump’s conditions.
Vance confirmed that discussions are underway to bring these leaders together for the first time in 3 1/2 years of conflict, while cautioning that these efforts could be thwarted if Zelensky attempts to proceed prematurely, before Trump determines the appropriate timing.
“I actually don’t think it would be that productive,” Vance told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“I think, fundamentally, the president of the United States has to be the one to kind of bring these two together.”
“Essentially, this is a situation where the president needs to compel President Putin and President Zelensky to genuinely sit down and resolve their differences.”
Vance did not specify when this meeting between the three leaders might occur, nor did he comment on the likelihood of it happening on Friday, when Trump is slated for a historic one-on-one with Putin in Alaska.
Zelensky’s presence, if forced, could railroad such peace talks, Vance suggested.
“A significant hurdle is that Vladimir Putin has declared he would never engage in discussions with Zelensky,” Vance noted. “Currently, we are in the process of determining, quite frankly, schedules and other logistics for when these three leaders might convene to discuss ending this conflict.”
It has reportedly been considered by the White House to include Zelensky in the meeting with Putin. However, Trump has publicly expressed his willingness to meet Putin without Zelensky being present.
“We, of course, condemn the invasion that happened. We don’t like that this is where things are, but you have got to make peace here,” Vance added. “And the only way to make peace is to sit down and talk.”
“You can’t finger-point. You can’t wag your finger at somebody and say, ‘You’re wrong. We’re right.’ The way to peace is to have a decisive leader sit down and force people to come together.”
Zelensky has been adamant that any peace deal inked without Ukraine “won’t work” and has seemingly pumped the brakes on the notion that Kyiv will make territorial concessions to Russia.
“We’re, of course, going to talk to the Ukrainians. I actually spoke with the Ukrainians this morning. [Secretary of State] Marco [Rubio] has been talking to them quite a bit,” Vance said.
The vice president has been meeting with European and Ukrainian officials in the UK over the weekend amid preparations for the high-stakes summit in Alaska on Friday.
Trump has made ending the bloody war in Ukraine a top foreign policy priority of his second term in office.
The president has also departed from his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, by attempting to position himself as a mediator between warring Russia in Ukraine.
“We have a lot of economic points of leverage. And we’re willing to use those to bring about peace. And that was a big thing that happened,” Vance explained, appearing to credit Trump’s ultimatum against Russia for the breakthrough.
“Americans, I think, are sick of continuing to send their money, their tax dollars to this particular conflict. But if the Europeans want to step up and actually buy the weapons from American producers, we’re OK with that.”
