JD Vance: Russia's Putin 'Doesn't Quite Know How To Get Out Of The War'

In an Air Force Two press gaggle, Vice President JD Vance spoke about the Russia-Ukraine War.

Transcript

00:00But not today.

00:01And just another question on Russia and Ukraine.

00:03From the administration's point of view,

00:05what seems to be the obstacle in trying to get this ceasefire deal?

00:09I don't know. It's a good question.

00:11But there are so many different things that are obstacles

00:14that it's hard to pinpoint one in particular.

00:17Look, I think one open question is,

00:19is Vladimir Putin serious about negotiating peace, right?

00:23He has made some concessions.

00:25He has taken some serious steps in these conversations.

00:28But we feel like we're at a point where we're hitting an impasse,

00:31and that's why the president is talking to him on the phone.

00:34I think, honestly, that President Putin,

00:36he doesn't quite know how to get out of the war.

00:38If you think about this, he's got a million men under arms.

00:41He's reengineered his entire economy,

00:43what used to be manufacturing facilities,

00:45making products for people to use in their civilian life.

00:48They're now making tank shells and artillery shells and drones.

00:52And so this is a little bit of a guess,

00:53but I think the president would agree that part of this is,

00:56I'm not sure that Vladimir Putin has a strategy himself

00:58for how to unwind the war, of course,

01:02that's been going on for a few years now.

01:04And I think there's also just a little bit of,

01:07look, there's fundamental mistrust between Russia and the West.

01:12It's one of the things the president thinks is frankly stupid,

01:14that we should be able to move beyond the mistakes

01:18that have been made in the past.

01:19But that takes two to tanko.

01:21I know the president's willing to do that,

01:22but if Russia's not willing to do that,

01:24then we're eventually just going to have to say,

01:26this is not our war.

01:27It's Joe Biden's war.

01:28It's Vladimir Putin's war.

01:30It's not our war.

01:31We're going to try to end it,

01:32but if we can't end it,

01:33we're eventually going to say,

01:33you know what, that was worth a try,

01:35but we're not doing it anymore.