US Vice President JD Vance said on 7 May at the Munich Leadership Meeting in Washington that Russia is demanding “too much” in peace negotiations regarding the war in Ukraine.
“I wouldn’t say that Russians are uninterested in bringing this thing in a resolution a peace agreement,” Vance said. However, he said that Moscow has presented numerous demands to end the war that Washington considers excessive.
According to Vance, Ukraine has also submitted “a piece of paper into our hands” outlining their peace requirements. He described “a big gap” between the positions of the two warring nations.
The United States advocates for direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine as the necessary next step toward peace. “The step we want to make right now is we would like both Russians and Ukrainians to agree on some basic guidelines for sitting down and talking to one another,” Vence explained. “It’s very important for Russians and Ukrainians to start talking to one another.”
Given the significant differences in positions regarding a ceasefire, Washington aims to “move beyond the obsession with a 30-day ceasefire” and focus more on “what a long-term settlement would look like,” the Vice President added.
Vance expressed “frustration” with both sides in the war. He claimed they “hate each other so much that when you have an hour-long conversation with one side, the first half hour they just complain about some historical grievances.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously mentioned that some countries wish for Kyiv and Moscow to negotiate alone regarding war resolution. While not naming specific nations, he said this desire exists only after a possible ceasefire.
Earlier in May, Donald Trump expressed cautious optimism about the possibility of ending the war in Ukraine, while acknowledging that significant hurdles remain.
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