'Some good news next few weeks on that front': Vance teases upcoming announcement on war in Ukraine
Photo: JD Vance (Getty Images)
US Vice President JD Vance expressed hope that there will be "good news" in the coming weeks regarding efforts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to NBC News.
During the conversation, journalists asked Vance what frustrates him most in his role as US vice president. He replied that he has not yet managed to secure a deal that would end Russia’s war against Ukraine.
"Oh, man. I mean, look, the Russia-Ukraine thing has been a source of perennial frustration, I think, for the entire White House," Vance said.
He noted that the White House genuinely believed, and US President Donald Trump had repeatedly said, that this would be the easiest war to resolve.
"And if you would put, you know, peace in the Middle East as easier to achieve than peace in Eastern Europe, I would have told you you were crazy," Vance added.
At the same time, he remains optimistic and expects "good news" in the coming weeks. He stressed that the situation is not yet near the finish line, but progress has been made.
"I do think, for what it’s worth, that we have made a lot of progress, but we’re not yet quite across the finish line there," he said. "I think there’s hope - should hopefully be some good news the next few weeks on that front."
US peace plan
In November, the United States presented a new peace plan to end the war in Ukraine. The initial version contained 28 points, but they were highly favourable to Moscow. For this reason, the document is still being revised.
On 23 and 30 November, Ukrainian and US delegations worked on the document in Miami and Florida. On 2 December, Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and the US president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner flew to Moscow to meet with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.
After the five-hour meeting, Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov said that no compromise had yet been reached, although both sides were prepared to continue working.
Western media interpreted Ushakov’s statement as the Kremlin rejecting the current US peace plan. However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed the following day that this was not the case.
A few days later, Putin said he had rejected part of the US proposals, adding that the document now consisted of 27 points divided into four packages. However, after consultations with Ukraine, the document had reportedly been reduced to 20 points.
According to The New York Times, one of the packages concerns Ukrainian sovereignty, including limits on the size of the armed forces and missile ranges. The others involve territorial concessions, postwar economic cooperation between the US and Russia, and broader European security issues.
Delegations from the United States and Ukraine are expected to meet again in Florida. The meeting was announced for 4 December, though Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested it could also take place on 5 December. He said Ukraine’s goal is to obtain full information about what was discussed in Moscow.
Presidential adviser Oleksandr Bevz added that the Ukrainian delegation will review the modified version of the US peace plan prepared in Geneva. Further decisions will then be made by the president of Ukraine.
