U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference this Friday.
Kyiv needs “real security guarantees” to negotiate with Moscow, Zelensky told Vance on Friday, alluding to U.S. military promises that President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to reduce or end entirely. Zelensky also specified that he would not speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin until Ukraine had agreed on a plan with Trump as well as European leaders.
U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference this Friday.
Kyiv needs “real security guarantees” to negotiate with Moscow, Zelensky told Vance on Friday, alluding to U.S. military promises that President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to reduce or end entirely. Zelensky also specified that he would not speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin until Ukraine had agreed on a plan with Trump as well as European leaders.
That may be easier said than done. Earlier this week, Trump held a nearly 90-minute phone call with Putin, where the U.S. president appeared to offer unilateral concessions without Kyiv’s involvement. These included Ukraine potentially giving up some of its Russian-occupied territory (which Zelensky vehemently opposes) and forbidding Kyiv from joining NATO. On Thursday, Trump also said that Moscow should be allowed to rejoin the G-7.
Vance appeared to reiterate Trump’s remarks to Zelensky on Friday. “We want the war to come to a close, we want the killing to stop, but we want to achieve a durable, lasting peace, not the kind of peace that’s going to have Eastern Europe in conflict just a couple years down the road,” he said while sitting alongside U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Keith Kellogg, the White House’s special envoy for Russia and Ukraine.
On Thursday, though, Vance told the Wall Street Journal that Washington would consider using sanctions or even military action against Moscow if Putin does not agree to a deal that guarantees Ukraine’s long-term independence. Specifying that sending U.S. troops to Ukraine remained “on the table” marked a much tougher tone than what U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth implied on Wednesday, when he said the United States would not commit peacekeeping forces to the country.
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