Russia demands 6,000 more square kilometers of Ukrainian land to end war - US Vice President
Photo: US Vice President JD Vance (Getty Images)
Talks on ending the war between Russia and Ukraine are ongoing. Two key issues remain unresolved, US Vice President JD Vance reports.
Vance emphasized that the process has now reached a stage where the list of issues has been narrowed down to just a few core ones.
“One of the issues is territorial. The Russians want about 6,000 square kilometers that they have not yet conquered through military force. That's what the Russians want. The Ukrainians, on the flip side, want security guarantees, whether from Europeans or somebody else,” the US Vice President stressed.
Vance explained that the Ukrainian side wants to be certain that if an agreement is reached, the Russians will not come back in a few months or years to demand more.
“So we’ve actually made incredible progress, just that we’ve highlighted and identified these two core issues. The question really is whether the Russians and the Ukrainians are going to walk through that door of peace that the President (US President Donald Trump - ed.) has opened,” the US Vice President noted.
Furthermore, Vance stressed that his team continues to work hard on this issue.
“I spoke to the Special Envoy Steve Witkoff earlier today about this question. We're just gonna keep on working at it. And I think that eventually you're going to come to a peaceful settlement,” the US Vice President concluded.
Russia drags out peace in Ukraine
Earlier, we reported that Russian leader Vladimir Putin, during his meeting with US President Donald Trump in Alaska, put forward a number of demands for ending the war against Ukraine. In particular, these demands included not only territorial concessions.
Reuters reported that Russia might agree to give up part of the occupied Ukrainian territories, particularly in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions, but Ukraine would allegedly have to cede parts of the eastern lands that Moscow failed to capture, such as those in the Donetsk region.
At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during talks with Trump, did not rule out the idea of a possible territorial exchange. But Zelenskyy stressed that such decisions cannot be made without considering the position of the Ukrainian people.
Ukrainian President also emphasized that the situation at the front in Ukraine is currently difficult, but not as bad as Putin portrays it.
According to Zelenskyy, the Kremlin is already thinking about how to end the war. At the same time, Moscow is trying to invent for itself a “victory.”
