Donald Trump’s vice-president warned Ukraine and Russia to accept the US peace proposals or face the country walking away.
“It’s time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process,” JD Vance said on a visit to India.
“The current lines, somewhere close to them is where you’re ultimately, I think, going to draw the new lines in the conflict,” he added, after finishing a tour of the Taj Mahal.
His remarks, which come as officials gather in London to discuss Donald Trump’s seven-point plan to end the war, will likely infuriate both Ukraine and Russia.
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, has said he can’t give up swathes of territory to Russia under his country’s constitution.
Vladimir Putin, his Russian opposite number, has publicly ruled out freezing the conflict in its current state while his forces are still advancing on the battlefield.
Ukraine’s peace negotiation team – led by Andriy Yermak, Mr Zelensky’s powerful chief of staff – will hold talks in London on Wednesday.
The meeting was seemingly downgraded after Marco Rubio, the US State Secretary, and Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s lead negotiator, decided against travelling to the capital.
Instead, senior security advisors from the UK, France, Germany and Ukraine will meet with Keith Kellogg, the US president’s Ukraine envoy.
The first meeting of the day in London is under way.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy and John Healy, Defence Minister, is currently speaking to Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, and Rustem Umerov, the defence minister.
Further talks with the US delegation is expected later.
The Kremlin has decried “fake” reports claiming Vladimir Putin has agreed to end the war in Ukraine is the conflict is frozen along the current front line.
Unconfirmed details of those proposals have appeared in various media outlets, but the Kremlin on Wednesday said it would not comment publicly on any of them, describing some as “fake news”.
It said discussions needed to take place in silence.
“We are also continuing our contacts… but of course there are many nuances around the settlement that need to be worked out, where positions need to be brought closer together and so on. This work is ongoing,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters.
The Kremlin said there were “many nuances” around talks to end the conflict in Ukraine and that the positions of different sides involved in the talks had yet to be narrowed.
Its comments came after talks between the US, Ukraine and European officials faltered at the last-minute on Wednesday after Marco Rubio, US secretary of state, abruptly cancelled his trip to London and negotiations were downgraded.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said Russia was continuing dialogue on a possible settlement with Washington, but was not in contact with Europe or Ukraine.
He stressed that Russia remains opposed to any European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine following a ceasefire.
Russia has lost 1, 210 soldiers killed and wounded as well as 400 weapons and pieces of military equipment over the past day, according to Ukraine’s military command.
In its daily update, the general staff reported that Moscow’s forces lost eight tanks, 11 armoured vehicles, 85 artillery systems, 138 aerial drones and 163 vehicles and fuel tankers over the past 24 hours.
Marco Rubio, US secretary of state, and Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy, have pulled out of talks in London to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
Mr Rubio had been expected to take part in the high-level discussions with Ukrainian and European officials, but Washington confirmed that he would no longer attend because of “logistical issues”.
In an apparent response, foreign ministers from the UK, France, Germany and Ukraine have withdrawn from today’s talks. The discussions will instead take place between five senior officials from the five nations.
The downgrading in the level of diplomacy is in contrast to Washington’s intensified efforts to secure a ceasefire. Mr Rubio warned last week that Washington would abandon talks unless there is progress within days.
The talks follow a meeting in Paris last week in which US, UK, German and French officials discussed the US framework for a ceasefire.
Mr Trump’s controversial plan includes a freeze of the current front line, reduced sanctions on Moscow, and US recognition of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, reversing a decade of US policy.
Ukraine will hold talks in London on Wednesday about ways to achieve a “full and unconditional ceasefire” as a first step towards peace, Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, said on Wednesday.
Mr Yermak has arrived in London with Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, and Rustem Umerov, the defence minister.
He added that the path to peace “is not easy” but stressed that Ukraine remains committed to efforts to ending the three-year war.
His statements come after the foreign ministers of the US, Britain, France and Germany withdrew from the talks, which have been downgraded to lower-level officials.
Should it be a surprise that the Americans have opted against sending their two heavy-hitters given that neither the Brits nor Ukrainians were confident of a breakthrough in London on Wednesday?
Probably not.
For the Ukrainians, they insist they still haven’t seen the full and final peace plan (as reported by The Telegraph), and as it stands that is neither acceptable to Kyiv or Moscow.
The Britons knew this, and were said to be annoyed at the way Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, appeared to pressure Ukrainian officials to accept a deal after a recent round of talks.
European diplomacy on a Ukrainian peace plan can only move as fast as the Americans are able to move, and the downgrading of the latest meeting in London puts on full display the difficulties faced by Donald Trump to get Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table alongside Volodymyr Zelensky.
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Accept our peace deal or we walk away, says US – The Telegraph
