During an interview this morning on “Meet the Press,” Vice President J.D. Vance offered some perspective on the U.S. role in Russia-Ukraine negotiations. “We’re actually not active parties in the negotiation. We’re effectively mediating,” Vance said. We’re trying to mediate Ukrainians and the Russians to come to some agreement. If Ukrainians are willing to say something on territory that brings the conflict to the close, we’re not going to stop them. We’re also not going to force them because it’s not our country.” “We’re trying to play a constructive role. The president is trying to play a constructive role to bring peace to the region. But he’s not going to force these parties to walk through the door. All he can do is open the door and ask them to negotiate in good faith,” he said.

KRISTEN WELKER: Just to boil down what the Russian concessions might look like, is the only thing that President Trump is asking Russia to give up is not to invade all of Ukraine? VICE PRES. JD VANCE: No, that’s not it at all. It’s providing the Ukrainians the kind of security guarantees that ensures that country is not going to be invaded again. You know, this is why I think we’ve made a lot of progress, Kristen. Even though we’re not yet there, why we’ve made a lot of progress is fundamentally the disagreement here is over security guarantees versus where you draw the battle lines in Ukraine. So whether we solve those issues, we’ve actually identified the two critical issues, one to Ukrainians, one to the Russians. And I think that is where the fruit, if we ultimately solve this thing, that’s where the fruit of an agreement will come. KRISTEN WELKER: I want to get security guarantees. Very quickly, if Russia is allowed to keep any of the territory that it illegally seized, what message does that send to China? Does it give China a green light to invade Taiwan? Does it give Russia a green light to invade other European countries, which is what your European allies are concerned about? VICE PRES. JD VANCE: Well, first of all, the Ukrainians are going to ultimately make the determination about where you draw the territorial lines in their own country. But, Kristen, this is how wars ultimately get settled. If you go back to World War II, if you go back to World War I, if you go back to every major conflict in human history, they all end with some kind of negotiation. We’re actually not active parties in the negotiation. We’re effectively mediating. We’re trying to mediate Ukrainians and the Russians to come to some agreement. If Ukrainians are willing to say something on territory that brings the conflict to the close, we’re not going to stop them. We’re also not going to force them because it’s not our country. We’re trying to play a constructive role. The president is trying to play a constructive role to bring peace to the region. But he’s not going to force these parties to walk through the door. All he can do is open the door and ask them to negotiate in good faith.

Here’s the full interview from NBC’s August 24, 2025 edition of “Meet the Press.”
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