"Russia asks for too much": Vance says U.S. wants Russia and Ukraine to talk

This was reported by Vance during the Munich Leaders Meeting in the U.S.

According to Vance, the U.S. is negotiating with both Ukraine and Russia to understand the requirements of both sides for ending the war.

“We want Ukraine and Russia to agree on common principles for them to start a dialogue with each other. This is important. Russia has many demands to start negotiations. We believe they want too much,” Vance stated.

He also mentioned that Ukraine’s position is important, and the United States is trying to understand Ukraine’s demands to initiate negotiations to end the war.

The U.S. Vice President reiterated that the gap between Russia’s and Ukraine’s demands is still very large.

“But I’m positive about this. Ukraine has agreed to a ceasefire for 30 days. Russia has not. Russia believes a 30-day ceasefire is not ‘in their strategic interests,’” Vance said.

Therefore, Vance added, the U.S. is trying to move towards other principles for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, apart from a 30-day ceasefire.

The Vice President of the United States mentioned that the U.S. feels "disappointed" by both sides, as during direct negotiations with both sides, Russia and Ukraine "spend at least 30 minutes talking about the historical background" of the war that Russia started against Ukraine. Vance said that "wars have historical backgrounds," but in order to end the conflict, there needs to be "progress."

“We repeat to both sides: continuing the war is bad for us, for Europe, for Ukraine, and for Russia. If cold-bloodedness prevails, then ending the war will become economically beneficial for Ukraine and Russia, and most importantly – stop the killings,” he emphasized.

• At the beginning of May, U.S. Vice President JD Vance had already expressed the view that there is a "very large gap" between the positions of Ukrainian and Russian representatives regarding peace. At that time, he assured that America would work towards bridging them.