Tuesday,
, 2025
March 4
Year : 2, Issue: 27
Anadolu Agency: US Vice President JD Vance said Monday that giving Americans “economic upside” in the future of Ukraine will serve as the “very best” security guarantee.
“If you want real security guarantees, if you want to actually ensure that (Russian President) Vladimir Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine,” Vance told Fox News.
“That is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.
“The security guarantee, and also the economic guarantee for Ukraine, is to rebuild the country and ensure that America has a long-term interest,” he added.
US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy engaged in a fiery Oval Office exchange on Friday in which Trump and Vance repeatedly berated Zelenskyy, alleging he is ungrateful for years of American military and economic aid for his war-ravaged nation.
Vance said it’s “very important” for Zelenskyy and Putin to come to the negotiating table.
He said Zelenskyy showed a “clear unwillingness to engage in the peace process that Trump has said is the policy of the American people.”
“That’s the real breakdown,” he said, adding Zelenskyy “still isn’t there” when it comes to negotiating.
‘Really went off the rails’
Turning to Friday’s clash, Vance knocked Zelenskyy for “a lack of respect” and “a certain sense of entitlement.”
“As you know, he’s (Trump) very open with reporters. And what I noticed is that…he tried to sort of bend over backwards, to be gracious and kind to Zelenskyy, even when Zelenskyy was kind of needling him, even when Zelenskyy was saying things that I thought were untrue. The president just tried to be diplomatic,” he said.
On his exchange with Zelenskyy, Vance said it “really went off the rails…and then something about my answer just really set Zelenskyy off.”
“As we kept on going back and forth, I tried again to say, ‘Well, maybe we should have this conversation in private.’ And the president was like, ‘Nope, actually, I don’t want to have it in private anymore. I want to have this actual conversation in public for the American people to see’,” he added.
Vance argued that it was “disrespectful” of Zelenskyy to “come to the Oval Office, insult the president and refuse to follow his plan for peace.”
‘Door is open’
Asked whether the door is still open for Zelenskyy, Vance said: “What President Trump has said clearly and consistently is, of course, the door is open, so long as Zelenskyy is willing to seriously talk peace.”
Vance’s remarks came after media reports that Trump ordered a pause on US military aid going to Ukraine.
“You can’t just fund the war forever. The American people won’t stand for it,” he said, adding the Europeans aren’t going to stand for it forever either.
“I think our European friends, frankly, are being really, really…they’re doing a disservice to the Ukrainians, because their own populations are saying we’re not going to fund this war indefinitely. The American people are saying we don’t want to fund the war indefinitely,” he said.
It is in the best interest of America, Russia, Ukraine and Europe to bring the war to a close, he stressed.
Urging Europe to be “more realistic” on the Russia-Ukraine war, Vance said: “The president is actually taking a much more realistic perspective and saying, ‘This can’t go on forever. We can’t fund this thing forever. The Ukrainians can’t fight forever. So let’s bring this thing to a peaceful settlement.’”
Zelenskyy departed the White House following the argument, and a planned signing ceremony for a deal on critical minerals and press conference were canceled.
But Trump suggested Monday that he does not believe a minerals deal with Ukraine to jointly develop the nation’s natural resources is dead.
