Vice President JD Vance opens up about the heated meeting involving President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on ‘Hannity.’
WATCH:
Vice President JD Vance highlighted on Monday what he believes to be the core issue in US-Ukraine relations, pointing to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “clear unwillingness to engage in the peace process.”
Still, the vice president conveyed to Fox News host Sean Hannity that he believes Zelensky will eventually come around.
“I really don’t care what President Zelensky says about me or anybody else,” Vance shared with Hannity. “But he showed a clear unwillingness to engage in the peace process that President Trump has said is the policy of the American people and of their president.”
“That’s the real breakdown.”
Vance also admitted that his comments about the possibility of “diplomacy” with Russian President Vladimir Putin were what had “set Zelensky off” during the contentious Oval Office meeting that took place last Friday.
The vice president maintained that the expectation for the meeting was to serve as a “rah rah moment” for both Washington and Kyiv, but even though things “went off the rails,” Trump remains open to engaging with Ukraine.
“When they’re willing to talk peace, I think President Trump will be the first person to pick up the phone,” Vance commented.
Additionally, Vance expressed frustration with how European leaders have been boosting Zelensky, suggesting that their actions may be counterproductive for Ukraine.
“I think our European friends, frankly, are really doing a disservice to the Ukrainians because their own populations are saying, ‘We’re not going to fund this war indefinitely,’” Vance said.
“Zelensky, he goes to Europe and a lot of our European friends puff him up, they say, you know, ‘You’re a freedom fighter. You need to keep fighting forever.’ Well, fighting forever with what? With whose money? With whose ammunition? And with whose lives? 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,’” he added.
Vance further speculated that European leaders, behind closed doors, hold a much more realistic view about the ongoing conflict.
“When you talk to leaders in private, whether they’re Ukrainian or European, when you talk to people in private, they will tell you this cannot go on forever,” he stated. “There aren’t enough Ukrainian lives, there isn’t enough American money, and there isn’t enough ammunition to fund this thing indefinitely.”
“The only realistic pathway to bring this thing to a settlement is President Trump’s pathway. We encourage both President Zelensky and President Putin to follow that path.”
Following the strained Trump-Zelensky meeting, the Trump administration announced on Monday that it would pause military aid to Ukraine. This move comes after Zelensky’s ongoing insistence that the war’s conclusion is still “very, very far away.”
