Vance Says Russia ‘Asking For Too Much’ In Ukraine Peace Talks

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Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday that the Trump administration thinks Russia is pushing for “too much” in the peace talks with Ukraine.
Vance spoke at a Munich Security Conference Q&A, where he addressed numerous foreign policy issues, including the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and the effort to negotiate a peace deal between the two countries. The vice president said that to end the war, President Donald Trump has been trying “to understand where the other side is coming from.” As peace talks have hit multiple roadblocks in Trump’s first 100 days in office, Vance said he isn’t giving up hope that the two countries can come to some sort of agreement.

“I wouldn’t say that the Russians are uninterested in bringing this thing to a resolution. What I would say is right now, the Russians are asking for a certain set of requirements, a certain set of concessions in order to end the conflict. We think they’re asking for too much,” the vice president said.
The Trump administration is hoping to take a step back from mediating negotiations.

“We would like both the Russians and the Ukrainians to actually agree on some basic guidelines for sitting down and talking to one another,” Vance continued. “Obviously, the United States is happy to participate in those conversations, but it’s very important for the Russians and Ukrainians to start talking to one another.”
“We think it’s probably impossible for us to mediate this entirely without at least some direct negotiation between the two, and so that’s what we focus on,” Vance added.
The Trump administration has been talking to both Russian and Ukrainian leaders for months, seeking a way to end the war. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff recently spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow for the third time. Some of Russia’s demands include ensuring that Ukraine will never be admitted into NATO and the recognition of its occupation of Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula it invaded and annexed in 2014. Ukraine, meanwhile, continues to push for NATO membership, a request Trump said in February that Ukraine should “forget about.”

Vance said that the Trump administration has “moved beyond” pushing for a 30-day ceasefire after those talks went nowhere with Russia.
“We’ve tried to move beyond the obsession with a 30-day ceasefire and more on what the long-term settlement would look like,” he said. “And we’ve tried to consistently advance the ball.”
The United States took a major step forward in talks with Ukraine last week, signing a minerals agreement with Kyiv. The agreement provides Ukraine with continued military assistance in exchange for the United States getting access to some of Ukraine’s vital natural resources, including aluminum, graphite, oil, and natural gas.

Russia blasted the minerals deal shortly after it was made, mocking President Trump and saying that Ukraine “is about to disappear.”