Donald Trump’s team will work “very hard” to broker a ceasefire, the vice president said
The Trump administration is prepared to dedicate another 100 days to mediating a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, US Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News in an interview published on Wednesday. He said the US has made progress by getting both sides to present their ideas for resolving the conflict.
“We’ve got this first step,” the vice president said, reflecting on the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s second term. “We’ve got the peace proposal out there and issued, and we’re going to work very hard over the next 100 days to try to bring these guys together.”
Vance noted that before the Trump administration got involved, Moscow and Kiev “weren’t even talking – not to each other, not to anybody. They were just fighting.” He added, “Now, the work of diplomacy is to try to sort of bring these two sides closer together,” pointing to a “very big gulf between what the Russians want and what the Ukrainians want.”
During last year’s election campaign, Trump vowed to end the conflict “within 24 hours” of entering the White House – something he later described as an “exaggeration.” Since taking office in January, he has pressed both sides to reach a ceasefire and has recently shown frustration over the lack of progress.
Although Russia praised Trump and his team for better understanding its position than the Biden administration, Moscow insisted that any comprehensive ceasefire must include an end to Ukraine’s mobilization and a halt to foreign arms deliveries. Both sides accused each other of violating the month-long “energy truce” brokered by Trump in March, as well as last month’s 30-hour Easter truce.
Moscow has demanded that Ukraine drop its claims to Crimea and four other regions, and abandon its NATO ambitions. On Thursday, Trump’s special envoy, Keith Kellogg, said Kiev had agreed to acknowledge Russia’s control over what it considers “occupied territories,” while stopping short of officially recognizing Russian sovereignty. However, Kiev has repeatedly stated that it will not cede any land to Russia.
