Senator JD Vance has explained why he believes the war between Russia and Ukraine is unlikely to end anytime soon, despite growing international calls for peace.
While former President Donald Trump has claimed he could broker a peace deal between the two countries, the conflict has continued. Still, some diplomatic progress has been made, including a recent agreement between the U.S. and Ukraine concerning key mineral resources. One of the goals tied to that agreement is ultimately achieving peace.
In an interview with Fox News on May 1, Vance expressed skepticism about near-term resolution.
“It’s going to be up to them [Ukraine and Russia] to come to an agreement and stop this brutal, brutal conflict,” he said. “It’s not going anywhere. It’s not going to end anytime soon.”
Vance warned that the conflict will continue despite peace efforts (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“Of course, they [the Ukrainians] are angry that they were invaded, but are we going to continue to lose thousands and thousands of soldiers over a few miles of territory this or that way? I hope both of them come to their senses.”
Despite a rather macabre prediction of an ongoing conflict, Vance also told Fox News Digital that Donald Trump has made significant progress.
He said: “The first and necessary step of getting the Russia-Ukraine conflict solved is to get each of them to make a peace proposal.
“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.
“Because there’s a very big gulf between what the Russians want and what the Ukrainians want.”
Vance praised Trump for making progress despite his prediction of an ongoing war (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Vance also took a jab at European leaders as he praised Trump for his ongoing work with both Russia and Ukraine in negotiations.
Vance added: “A lot of our European friends who, in public, will say, ‘Well, you know, we didn’t necessarily agree with the president what he said, or what he’s done, or, you know, all parts of his policy’.
“They will at the same time say he’s the only person who could have actually forced a peace proposal out of each side because these guys weren’t even talking — not to each other, not to anybody. They were just fighting. That was it. So, we’ve got this first step.”
