Vice President JD Vance warned on Wednesday that the Trump administration is ready to “walk away” from negotiations aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war if the countries don’t accept its “final offer.”
“We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process,” Vance told press in India.
Vance went on to say that the U.S. “put together a very fair proposal” and that is up to the “Europeans, the Russians and the Ukrainians” to “get this thing over the finish line.” He said he was optimistic about it even though Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff pulled out of high-level talks in London.
Bloomberg detailed last week that Washington D.C.’s proposal would have Kyiv give up all territory occupied by Moscow at the moment, including Crimea, and quash its expectations to join NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously ruled out making such concessions in the past.
Russia will also see the lifting of all sanctions imposed since 2014 and enhanced economic cooperation with the U.S., especially in the energy and industrial sectors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, on his end, has reportedly offered to freeze the current front lines to reach a deal, but has also rejected other parts of the proposal, such as a European peacekeeping force in the territory Ukraine has left.
Axios quoted a source close to the Ukrainian government saying Kyiv believes the proposal is biased towards Russia, as it “says very clearly what tangible gains Russia gets, but only vaguely and generally says what Ukraine is going to get.”
Putin suggested for the first time on Tuesday that he would be open to bilateral ceasefire talks with Zelensky. The Ukrainian president has not responded to the idea but has already rejected giving up Crimea. “This is against our Constitution,” he claimed.
Originally published on Latin Times
