Russia has made 'significant concessions' amid Trump-led peace talks, Vance says
In an exclusive interview with NBC News' "Meet the Press," on Aug. 24, U.S. Vice President JD Vance expressed optimism about diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine and claimed that Russia has made "significant concessions" during peace talks.
"I think the Russians have made significant concessions to President Trump for the first time in 3.5 years of this conflict. They've actually been willing to be flexible on some of their core demands. They've talked about what would be necessary to end the war," Vance said.
When asked to clarify which "concessions" Russia has made — especially given Moscow's refusal to accept U.S. President Donald Trump's ceasefire proposal and a bilateral meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin — Vance responded: "I didn't say they conceded on everything."
"But what they have conceded is the recognition that Ukraine will have territorial integrity after the war," he continued.
"They've recognized that they're not going to be able to install a puppet regime in Kyiv — that was, of course, a major demand at the beginning. And importantly they've acknowledged that there is going to be some security guarantee to the territorial integrity of Ukraine."
When asked about a recent Russian strike on an American-owned factory in Ukraine, Vance said that he "didn't like it," but added that "this is a war" — seemingly dismissing ongoing Russian attacks on non-military targets.
He also praised Trump's diplomatic approach, contrasting it with that of former U.S. President Joe Biden.
"President Trump has done more to apply pressure and to apply economic leverage to the Russians... than Joe Biden," Vance said. "We have a president who's engaging in energetic diplomacy to try to stop the killing."
On the question of future sanctions, Vance said: "sanctions aren't off the table, but we're going to make these determinations on a case-by-case basis."
When asked on how the Trump administration plans to apply pressure on Moscow without imposing new sanctions, Vance did not provide a direct answer, instead pointing to continued diplomacy as the administration's strategy for ending Russia's war in Ukraine.
