There is a significant divide between Russia and Ukraine’s positions on ending the war, and the White House will work to narrow that gap, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News in an interview about Donald Trump’s next 100 days in office.
Asked about the current state of peace talks, Vance said the “first and necessary step” toward resolving the conflict is understanding what each side wants from a settlement.
“And that's actually happened. The Ukrainians have said, ‘This is what we want.’ The Russians have said, ‘This is what we want,’ and now the work of diplomacy is to try to sort of bring these two sides closer together,” he said. “Because there's a very big gulf between what the Russians want and what the Ukrainians want.”
Vance said the Trump administration will now focus on trying to organize direct negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. “So, we’ve got this first step. We’ve got the peace proposal out there and issued, and we’re going to work very hard over the next 100 days to try to bring these guys together,” he said.
The United States has spent several months holding separate talks with both sides. Washington initially pushed for a 30-day ceasefire. When that effort failed — Ukraine accepted the proposal, while Russia effectively rejected it — U.S. officials shifted their focus to promoting a broader framework for peace. At the same time, Washington warned it could walk away from the negotiations if no progress was made.
According to Western media reports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Trump not to abandon the talks during their April 26 meeting at the Vatican. He also reportedly called on Trump to take a tougher stance on Vladimir Putin and to once again prioritize a ceasefire.