Vice President JD Vance remains confident the U.S. can broker an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine despite potential hang-ups that have emerged since President Donald Trump’s meeting this month with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We believe we’ve already seen some significant concessions from both sides, just in the last few weeks,” Vance said in an exclusive interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
Vance also weighed in on a Russian missile strike in western Ukraine overnight Thursday that hit an electronics factory owned by a U.S.-based company. Asked by moderator Kristen Welker if he was “enraged” by the strike, which the company said injured several workers, Vance pivoted to a criticism of former President Joe Biden.
“I don’t like it,” Vance said of the assault. “But this is a war, and this is why we want to stop the killing. The Russians have done a lot of things that we don’t like. A lot of civilians have died. We’ve condemned that stuff from the get-go and, frankly, President Trump has done more to apply pressure and to apply economic leverage to the Russians, certainly, than Joe Biden did for 3 ½ years, when he did nothing but talk, did nothing to bring the killing to a stop. So you asked me what I’m enraged by? What I’m enraged by is the continuation of the war.”
Trump told reporters Friday that he was not happy about the strikes on western Ukraine and indicated that any peace deal between the countries could be weeks away.
“I think over the next two weeks, we’re going to find out which way it’s going to go,” Trump said.
During his interview with “Meet the Press,” Vance did not characterize the strike, and a number of other issues, as long-term hindrances to peace, saying there was still plenty of room for negotiation.
“We’re going to eventually be successful, or we’ll hit a brick wall. And if we hit a brick wall, then we’re going to continue this process of negotiation, of applying leverage,” Vance added. “This is the energetic diplomacy that’s going to bring this war to a close.”
Welker then asked Vance what the pressure is on Russia if the U.S. is not “imposing new sanctions.”
“How do you get them to a place of getting to the table with Zelenskyy and stopping to drop bombs?” she asked.
Vance replied by saying Trump has applied “aggressive economic leverage,” such as “secondary tariffs on India, to try to make it harder for the Russians to get rich from their oil economy.”
Asked by Welker if he could guarantee that the U.S. would not send troops to help enforce any peace deal, Vance reaffirmed Trump’s opposition to such a deployment.
“The president has been very clear,” Vance said. “There are not going to be boots on the ground in Ukraine. But we are going to continue to play an active role in trying to ensure that the Ukrainians have the security guarantees and the confidence they need to stop the war on their end and the Russians feel like they can bring the war to a conclusion on their end.”
The interview, which aired Sunday, comes amid new, heightened tensions in the effort to end the war.
On Friday, Russia’s top diplomat told NBC News that no meetings between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been scheduled, raising further doubts about Trump’s ability to mediate the conflict.
Meanwhile, details about security guarantees for Ukraine — and Russia’s role in shaping them — remain unresolved.
In the interview, Vance said he doesn’t believe the Russians are stringing Trump along.
“I think the Russians have made significant concessions to President Trump for the first time in 3 ½ years of this conflict,” he added. “They’ve actually been willing to be flexible on some of their core demands. They’ve talked about what would be necessary to end the war.”
Trump, Vance added, stepped up efforts to negotiate a diplomatic solution “because this war is not in anyone’s interest. It’s not in Europe or the United States’ interest.”
While acknowledging some of the hurdles that have popped up since Trump’s Aug. 15 meeting with Putin in Alaska, Vance expressed optimism that persistence would deliver results.
“There are hills and valleys to the negotiations,” Vance said. “We sometimes feel like we’ve made great progress with the Russians, and sometimes, as the president has said, he’s been very frustrated with the Russians. We’re going to keep on doing what we have to do to bring this thing to a close. I don’t think it’s going to happen overnight. I think that we’re going to continue to make progress. But, ultimately, whether the killing stops, that determination is going to belong to whether the Russians and Ukrainians can actually find some middle ground here.”
Putin has rejected calls — including from Trump before their recent meeting — for a ceasefire.
“I didn’t say they conceded on everything,” Vance said in the interview, referring to Russia. “But what they have conceded is the recognition that Ukraine will have territorial integrity after the war. They’ve recognized that they’re not going to be able to install a puppet regime in Kyiv. … Have they made every concession? Of course they haven’t. Should they have started the war? Of course they [shouldn’t have], but we’re making progress.”
Asked about disagreements surrounding how involved Russia will be in establishing security guarantees for Ukraine, Vance asserted that “there’s a little bit of talking past each other here.”
“First of all, we’re not talking about security guarantees until after the war has come to a close,” Vance said. “And, of course, the Russians are going to be a part of the conversation about bringing that war to a close. So, of course, they’re going to have some stake in this.”
The interview with Vance also touched on several domestic issues, including new congressional maps passed by the Republican-controlled Texas House of Representatives that could pad the GOP’s majority by as many as five seats. The issue has become a political flashpoint, with California Democrats preparing retaliatory moves and other states aiming to redraw maps, too.
“All we’re doing, frankly, is trying to make the situation a little bit more fair on a national scale,” Vance said of GOP efforts. “The Democrats have gerrymandered their states really aggressively. We think there are opportunities to push back against that, and that’s really all we’re doing.”
On the subject of his own political ambitions, Vance again sidestepped questions about whether he sees himself as Trump’s heir apparent in 2028, when the president is term-limited.
“I see myself as a vice president who’s trying to do a good job for the American people … and if I do a good job, and if the president continues to be successful, as I know that he will be, the politics will take care of itself,” Vance said. “We can cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Welker asked if Vance has discussed the possibility with Trump.
“As you know, the president talks about everything, and if it’s in the news, the president and I have certainly discussed it,” Vance replied. “But I think the president is just focused on doing a good job for the American people. He wants me to be focused on doing a good job for the American people. That’s what I’ll keep on doing.”
