US to Withdraw Support if Russia-Ukraine Ceasefire Fails
US Vice President JD Vance declared Wednesday the US will distance itself from Ukraine and Russia if both countries do not reach a ceasefire amid the Russo-Ukrainian War.
“It’s time for them to either say yes or for the US to walk away from this process. We’ve engaged in an extraordinary amount of diplomacy, of on the ground work,” Vance said. He doubled-down on the expressed need for both country’s armies to stop fighting:
“The only way to really stop the killing is for the armies to both put down their weapons, to freeze this thing and to get on with the business of actually building a better Russia and a better Ukraine.”
For Vance this deal must include, along with a ceasefire, a mutual exchange of territory between both nations:
“It’s now time, I think, to take, if not the final step, one of the final steps, which is, at a broad level, the party saying we’re going to stop the killing, we’re going to freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today,” Vance stated. “Now, of course, that means the Ukrainians and the Russians are both going to have to give up some of the territory they currently own.”
Vance’s comments were made while officials from the US, France, the UK, Germany, and Ukraine were holding peace talks in London. General Keith Kellogg, US Envoy to Ukraine, is chiefly present at the talks, rather than Secretary of State Marco Rubio. US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will return to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin on April 25.
President Donald Trump commented Wednesday on the subject, aiming criticism toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who recently refused to recognize Russia’s occupation of Crimea. The US President claims Zelenskyy has no room to complain because his country did not fight back during its invasion and annexation by Russia in 2014.
“He has nothing to boast about!” Trump exclaimed of Zelenskyy. “The situation for Ukraine is dire — He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country. I have nothing to do with Russia, but have much to do with wanting to save, on average, five thousand Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, who are dying for no reason whatsoever.”
