US Vice President answers Zelenskyy after criticism of his Putin defense
Photo: JD Vance, US Vice President (Getty Images)
The US Vice President JD Vance called President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's remarks - that he was trying to justify Russian dictator Vladimir Putin during the war in Ukraine - "absurd," Reuters reports.
Criticism from Zelenskyy
In an interview with 60 Minutes, Zelensky said that Vance doesn't realize what is actually happening in Ukraine. He added that the US Vice President had expressed the position that Russians are also suffering from the full-scale war and that it's supposedly not certain that the terrorist state Russia started it.
According to Zelenskyy, it seems to him that Vance is somehow trying to justify dictator Putin, which is why he tried to explain to the US Vice President who the victim is in this war, and who the aggressor is.
Vance's reaction
Commenting on the Ukrainian President's words, Vance said that he has been condemning Russia since 2022, but has also been trying to understand the strategic goals of both sides since then.
"That doesn't mean you morally support the Russian cause, or that you support the full-scale invasion, but you do have to try to understand what are their strategic red lines, in the same way that you have to try to understand what the Ukrainians are trying to get out of the conflict," the US Vice President added.
In particular, Vance called the Ukrainian President's remarks "absurd" and "certainly not productive."
