US ready to 'walk away' if Russia negotiates in bad faith, Vance says
The United States will be ready to “walk away” from the negotiating table if it does not see Russia making progress in negotiation to end the war, U.S. Vice President JD Vance told Fox News on May 8.
“What would bother me is if we conclude that the Russians are not engaging in negotiations in good faith. And if that happen, yeah, we’re going to walk away,” Vance said in an interview.
The United States has reportedly grown frustrated at the lack of progress being made on negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. On April 26, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be “tapping me along” in negotiations.
Despite growing frustrations from the White House, Vance said that the fact that the parties are offering proposals to one another is a sign of “progress."
“We knew that Russia would ask for too much because Russia’s perspective on the ground is that they’re winning,” Vance said. “Our attitude is we don’t want Ukraine to collapse. We obviously want Ukraine to remain a sovereign country. But Russia can’t expect to be given territory they haven’t event conquered yet."
“We knew that the Russians' first offer would be too much. We knew that they would ask for more than what was reasonable to give, that’s how negotiations often work,” Vance continued.
Vance warned that Russia and Ukraine “are going to be left to settle this thing without the advise and the mediation of the United States,” if Moscow continues to stall talks.
Despite Vance’s comment, following a phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump seemingly contradicted Vance, saying that he was “committed” to securing a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.
“As President, I will stay committed to securing Peace between Russia and Ukraine, together with the Europeans, and a Lasting Peace it will be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Hopefully, an acceptable ceasefire will be observed, and both Countries will be held accountable for respecting the sanctity of these direct negotiations. If the ceasefire is not respected, the U.S. and its partners will impose further sanctions,” Trump added.
U.S. government officials have reportedly prepared a new sanctions package against Russia, although Trump has yet to make a move on implementing the measures.
The Kyiv IndependentLucy Pakhnyuk