Vice President JD Vance called the “real collapse” between Ukrainian relations on Monday, saying he “clearly dislikes Ukrainian President Voldimia Zelensky's “engaged in the peace process.”
However, the vice president told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he hopes Zelensky will “finally get there.”
“I really don't care what President Zelensky is saying about me or anyone else,” Vance told the Fox News host. “But he showed that President Trump will be engaged in a peace process that he said is the policy of the American people and their president.”
“That's the real breakdown.”
Vance acknowledged that this was his statement about his engagement in “diplomacy” with Russian President Vladimir Putin “turning off Zelensky” at a heated, oval office meeting on Friday.
The vice president said the tense meeting is expected to be a “la-la-la-la-la-la-e-e-moment” for Washington and Kiev, and despite it being “off the railroad,” President Trump still wants to engage with the Ukrainian side.
“When they are willing to speak peace, I think President Trump will be the first to pick up a call,” Vance said.
The Vice President also had problems with the way European leaders were discussing Zelensky, claiming that they were in fact “harmful” to Ukrainians.
“Frankly, I think our European friends are really harming the Ukrainians because their own people say, 'We're not going to fund this war indefinitely',” Vance argued.
“Zelensky, he goes to Europe, and many of our European friends inflate him, they know, you are, “You are a freedom warrior. You need to continue fighting forever.” Now, what will you fight forever? Whose money? Whose ammunition? And in whose life? The president actually takes a much more realistic perspective, he added, “This cannot last forever. This cannot be funded forever. The Ukrainians cannot fight forever. So let's bring this to a peaceful reconciliation.”
Vance further suggested that in closed rooms, European leaders have a very different view of the three-year war.
“When you talk to private leaders, whether they're Ukrainian or European, when you talk to private people, they'll tell you that this cannot last forever,” he said. “Living in Ukraine is not enough, and American money isn't enough. There's not enough ammunition to fund this indefinitely.”
“The only realistic route to bringing this into a settlement is President Trump's route. I encourage both President Zelensky and Putin to follow that path.”
The Trump administration moved on Monday to suspend military aid to Ukraine in the aftermath of the tragic Trump Zelensky Conference, with the Ukrainian president continuing to assert that the end of the war is still “very, very far away.”
