WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance on Sunday mocked Russia over its war in Ukraine, noting how little Moscow has “to show for it” after three years and more than a million casualties.
The vice president said he “wasn’t surprised at all” by President Trump’s stunning declaration last week that Kyiv can win back its territories and perhaps go “further.”
“If you go back to the last days of the Biden administration, if you go back to even a couple of months ago, the Russians were conquering large amounts of territory,” Vance told “Fox News Sunday.”
“What’s happening right now, as the president articulated, is [that] Russia is really stalled,” Vance said. “They’re killing a lot of people. They themselves are losing a lot of people. And they don’t have much territorial gain to show for it.”
Trump’s assertion about Ukraine came just after his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the United Nations. Trump suggested that Russia is nothing more than a “paper tiger.”
Sources later told The Post that Trump’s apparent shift in his public outlook on the war was a “strategic shift” based in part on new intelligence about Russia’s economy and position on the battlefield.
“The president is looking at the situation. He’s saying, ‘Look, the Russian economy is in shambles. The Russians are not gaining much on the battlefield. It’s clearly time for them to listen to his passionate plea for them to come to the table and actually talk seriously about peace,’ ” Vance said.
“I think what’s changed is the reality on the ground,” the veep said. “Unfortunately, what we have seen over the last couple of weeks, [is that] the Russians have refused to sit down with any bilateral meetings with the Ukrainians.”
Vance famously clashed with Zelensky during their Feb. 28 encounter in the Oval Office, in which he demanded a “Thank You” and commitment to pursuing peace.
Since then, the two have seemingly mended fences.
During a recent interview with Axios, Zelensky denied that the VP was his enemy.
“He’s not my best friend, but he is not an enemy,” the Ukrainian leader said.
Zelensky struggled to explain the easing of tensions between him and the Trump administration since February but contended that part of what’s driven Trump’s shift is frustration with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin lying to him.
Trump met with Putin in Alaska last month, hoping to push the Russians toward peace. Russia only intensified its attacks on Ukraine in the time since.
In response, the US president has moved to rally NATO allies to impose secondary tariffs against countries that continue to purchase Russian oil — aiming to undercut a key source of revenue for its war machine.
“We’re going to keep on working for peace, and we hope the Russians actually wake up to the reality on the ground,” Vance said.
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