‘Putin Demanding Too Much’: After Trump, VP Vance DROPS Bombshell, Stunning U-Turn Shocks Russia

Oneindia

In a dramatic turn of events, U.S. Vice President JD Vance broke ranks with earlier diplomatic signals and delivered a scathing rebuke of Russia’s stance on the Ukraine war, declaring that "Putin is demanding too much." The bold statement follows former President Trump’s measured approach, marking a surprising shift in the White House’s tone.    #RussiaUkraineWar #UkraineUnderAttack #JDVanceUkraine #PutinVsZelenskyy #TrumpOnUkraine #RussiaUkraineNews #UkraineWarLive #VladimirPutin #RussiaUkraineCeasefire #JDVanceSpeech #TrumpRussiaUkraine #UkraineCrisis #RussiaUkrainePeaceTalks #UkraineResistance #RussiaVsUkraine  Also Read  Indian Army Gets Russia-Made Igla-S Missiles :: https://www.oneindia.com/india/indian-army-gets-russia-made-igla-s-missiles-4143017.html?ref=DMDesc  Pahalgam Attack: Scared Pakistan Seeks China, Russia's Intervention For Investigation :: https://www.oneindia.com/international/pahalgam-attack-scared-pakistan-seeks-china-russias-intervention-for-investigation-4136899.html?ref=DMDesc  Putin Declares 'Easter Truce' In Russia-Ukraine War Amid US Proposal, Ceasefire To Stay Till Sunday Midnight :: https://www.oneindia.com/international/putin-declares-easter-truce-in-russia-ukraine-war-amid-us-proposal-to-stay-untill-sunday-midnight-4128473.html?ref=DMDesc    ~HT.410~PR.152~

Transcript

00:00Certainly, both the president and I have criticized the full-scale invasion,

00:03but you have to try to understand where the other side is coming from to end the conflict.

00:07And I think that's what President Trump has been very deliberate about,

00:10is actually forcing the Russians to say, here is what we would like in order to end the conflict.

00:16And again, you don't have to agree with it. You can think that the request is too significant.

00:21And certainly the first peace offer that the Russians put on the table, our reaction to it was,

00:26you're asking for too much, but this is how negotiations unfold.

00:31And I wouldn't say, I'm not yet that pessimistic on this.

00:34I wouldn't say that the Russians are uninterested in bringing this thing to a resolution.

00:38What I would say is right now, the Russians are asking for a certain set of requirements,

00:44a certain set of concessions in order to end the conflict.

00:48We think they're asking for too much, okay?

00:51Yeah, so let me say a couple of things about this.

00:53First of all, I appreciate your kind words about the administration.

00:56Obviously, I think it was the right thing to do for us to start the process of negotiation.

01:01I think for too long, the Russians, the Ukrainians have been fighting.

01:05Obviously, there's been a lot of people dying on both sides.

01:07There's been a lot of innocent loss of life.

01:10And our view is, it's absurd that you've had this war go on for so long,

01:14and the two sides aren't even talking constructively

01:17about what would be necessary for them to end the conflict.

01:20And I think that, you know, one of the things that President Trump has always been very good at,

01:25and he's gotten a lot of criticism, unfair criticism in my view,

01:29from both the American and some of the European press,

01:32is what I would call a strategic realism or a strategic insight.

01:36In other words, you don't have to agree with the Russian justification for the war,

01:42and certainly both the President and I have criticized the full-scale invasion,

01:45but you have to try to understand where the other side is coming from to end the conflict.

01:49And I think that's what President Trump has been very deliberate about,

01:53is actually forcing the Russians to say,

01:56here is what we would like in order to end the conflict.

01:58And again, you don't have to agree with it.

02:01You can think that the request is too significant,

02:03and certainly the first peace offer that the Russians put on the table,

02:07our reaction to it was, you're asking for too much,

02:10but this is how negotiations unfold.

02:13And I wouldn't say, I'm not yet that pessimistic on this,

02:16I wouldn't say that the Russians are uninterested in bringing this thing to a resolution.

02:21What I would say is, right now, the Russians are asking for a certain set of requirements,

02:26a certain set of concessions, in order to end the conflict.

02:30We think they're asking for too much, okay?

02:33And then obviously, the Ukrainians matter a lot.

02:36They're the other side, they're the other party, at least, to the direct conflict,

02:39and we have to ask, what is the Ukrainian, what do they need in order to bring this conflict

02:46to a successful completion?

02:48And we're going to continue to have that conversation.

02:50Now, what the President has said is that he will walk away if he thinks he's not making progress.

02:55And I think that, you know, about once every four or five weeks,

02:59you will hear some American official, or sometimes multiple American officials,

03:03say, this is a week where we need to make another step.

03:06And in particular, the step that we would like to make right now is we would like both the Russians

03:11and the Ukrainians to actually agree on some basic guidelines for sitting down and talking to one another.

03:18Obviously, the United States is happy to participate in those conversations,

03:21but it's very important for the Russians and the Ukrainians to start talking to one another.

03:26We think that is the next big step that we would like to take.

03:30And why does that matter?

03:31The reason it matters is because, again, I mentioned the Russians,

03:35but also the Ukrainians have also been sort of, they've put a piece of paper in our hands

03:39that says this is what we would need in order to bring this conflict to a successful resolution from our perspective.

03:46And there's a big gulf, predictably, between where the Russians and the Ukrainians are,

03:50and we think the next step of the negotiation is to try to close that gulf.

03:55We think it's probably impossible for us to mediate this entirely without at least some direct negotiation between the two.

04:02And so that's what we focus on.

04:03But I'm not yet a pessimist on this.

04:06I mean, obviously, you know, the Russians and the Ukrainians are not there yet because the fighting is still going on.

04:13You know, the Ukrainians have said they would agree to a ceasefire, a 30-day ceasefire.

04:17We appreciate that.

04:19What the Russians have said, again, you don't have to disagree with it,

04:22but it's important to understand where the other side is coming from.

04:25What the Russians have said is a 30-day ceasefire is not in our strategic interest.

04:30So we've tried to move beyond the obsession with a 30-day ceasefire

04:34and more on the what would the long-term settlement look like,

04:38and we've tried to consistently advance the ball.

04:40One final point I'd make about this, I think it probably wouldn't surprise anybody in the room,

04:44but there are a lot of people watching who are not in the room, is a frustration that we've had,

04:50frankly with both sides, is that they hate each other so much that if you have an hour conversation

04:57with either side, the first 30 minutes are just them complaining about some historical grievance

05:01from four years ago or five years ago or ten years ago.

05:04Look, I understand it.

05:06I understand that people don't fight wars against each other without a lot of grievance

05:10and a lot of problem, but we're trying to, as much as we can, play a constructive role

05:16in advancing the peace conversation forward.

05:18What I'll say, just to echo something that President Trump has said many times,

05:22but I think it bears repeating, is our strong view is that the continuation of this conflict

05:27is bad for us, it's bad for Europe, it's bad for Russia, and it's bad for Ukraine.

05:32We think that if cool heads prevail here, we can bring this thing to a durable peace that

05:39will be economically beneficial for both the Ukrainians and the Russians, and most importantly,

05:44will stop the end of the destruction of human lives.

05:48I think people underappreciate this about our President here in the United States is he has

05:53a genuine humanitarian impulse about this.

05:55He hates innocent people losing their lives.

05:59He hates even soldiers losing their lives in unnecessary conflicts.

06:03He just wants the killing to stop, and that will continue to be America's policy.

06:08But obviously, as all of you have seen, we'll navigate that policy and react as the parties

06:13bring their grievances to us.

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