On Thursday Vice President JD Vance said that it is now up to Russia and Ukraine to come to a peace agreement, following the signing of President Donald Trump’s mineral deal which codifies Washington’s economic partnership with Kiev. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce announced that day that the U.S. will no longer serve as a mediator in peace negotiations between the two countries.
Previously, the U.S. hosted events where it played the middleman between Russia and Ukraine. Recently both the President and Vice President have said that they are close to walking away from the quarrel if a peace plan isn’t agreed to soon.
“It’s going to be up to them [Russia and Ukraine] to come to an agreement and stop this brutal, brutal conflict,” Vance told Fox News on Thursday. “It’s not going anywhere Bret, it’s not going to end anytime soon, and I think for the Ukrainians, yes of course they’re 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.”
“Look, I am optimistic, but it is ultimately, it’s hard to say confident, because the Russians and Ukrainians, they’re the ones who have to take the finals step. We got them talking, we got them offering peace proposals, we got the minerals deal done, I think we’re in a place where they got to say ‘we’re done with the fighting, we’re done with losing thousands and thousands of young people, we’re done with this.’ But only Russia and Ukraine can make that decision, that’s not something even President Trump could do for them,” Vance said Thursday.
A day earlier, Vance explained that the U.S. was instrumental in progressing the agenda of peace, and that Washington will now work to bring Russia and Ukraine together so they can negotiate peace with one another directly.
“So, we’ve got this first step,” Vance said Wednesday. “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.”
On Thursday, another Washington official clarified that the U.S. will no longer mediate meetings between Moscow and Kiev, as has been done in the first 100 days of the Trump administration, yet Washington will be still be committed to helping in other ways.
“We will not be the mediators,” Bruce told reporters when asked about Washington’s future role. “We certainly are still committed to it and we’ll help and do what we can, but we are not going to fly around the world at the drop of a hat to mediate meetings.”
President Trump formed a foundation for the peace talks between Moscow and Kiev. U.S. financial and industrial interest will have a foothold in Ukraine under the mineral deal, yet it appears Bruce wants the two Slavic countries to work out a military settlement themselves. This is potentially because the chance for lasting peace is greater when the countries in question have complete control over the negotiation process.
“It’s time for both of the nations involved in this conflict to come up with concrete proposals about how this conflict ends. It’s going to be up to them,” Bruce said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Western Europe must also want and show political will for peace in the conflict as well.