U.S. Vice President Says Russia-Ukraine Deal Will Not Please Either Side
(MENAFN) U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Sunday confirmed that the Trump administration is pushing forward with a high-stakes negotiation to end the war in Ukraine, cautioning that any final agreement between Kyiv and Moscow will likely leave both parties dissatisfied.
“Both the Russians and the Ukrainians, probably, at the end of the day, are going to be unhappy with it,” Vance told media, underscoring the challenges of brokering a peace deal that satisfies both sides.
The administration is actively working toward "some negotiated settlement that the Ukrainians and the Russians can live with, where they can live in relative peace, where the killing stops."
A significant diplomatic breakthrough, according to Vance, has been President Donald Trump persuading Russian President Vladimir Putin to engage in direct talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — something the Russian leader had previously refused.
“One of the most important logjams is that Vladimir Putin said that he would never sit down with Zelenskyy,” Vance noted. “And the president has now got that to change.”
With the standoff easing, White House officials are now working to schedule a rare trilateral summit, as Trump and Putin prepare for a one-on-one meeting Friday in Alaska, where Ukraine is expected to dominate the agenda.
Pressed on whether Putin should meet Zelenskyy prior to his discussion with Trump, Vance pushed back: “I think fundamentally the president of the United States has to be the one to kind of bring these two together.”
In remarks Thursday, Putin said he was not opposed to a three-way meeting with Zelenskyy, but stressed the “necessary conditions” still need to be created. Media reported Sunday that the White House is considering an invitation to the Ukrainian president to join the Alaska summit.
China Tariffs Under Review Amid Russian Oil Tensions
The United States remains cautious about levying tariffs on China over its continued purchases of Russian oil, even as it imposed stiff penalties on India for similar activity.
When asked whether Trump might apply the same tariff strategy to Beijing, Vance replied: “Well, the president said he's thinking about it, but he hasn't made any firm decisions.”
“Obviously, the China issues are a little bit more complicated, because our relationship with China -- just it affects a lot of other things that have nothing to do with the Russian situation,” he added.
In July, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled that Washington would avoid challenging Beijing’s approach to Russian oil through sovereignty disputes, stating that China takes sovereignty “very seriously.”
Trump, however, has ratcheted up pressure elsewhere — hiking tariffs on India to 50%, up from an earlier 25%, and accusing New Delhi of capitalizing on discounted Russian energy.
He has further warned of imposing 100% secondary tariffs on nations continuing trade with Russia in the absence of a peace resolution.
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