 "US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky listen to Vice President JD Vance (R) as they meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 28, 2025. Source: AFP")
US Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday (August 10) that any negotiated settlement to end the war in Ukraine will almost certainly leave both Moscow and Kyiv dissatisfied.
“It’s not going to make anybody super happy,” Vance told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. “Both the Russians and the Ukrainians, probably, at the end of the day, are going to be unhappy with it.” He added that Washington’s objective is to broker an agreement that both sides can at least accept.
His remarks came two days after President Donald Trump announced he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15 to discuss a possible ceasefire. Trump claimed Moscow and Kyiv were close to a deal that could halt the fighting, though it might require Ukraine to give up significant territory seized by Russian forces since the invasion began in February 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy swiftly rejected any suggestion that Kyiv would cede land. “ Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupiers ,” he said on Saturday, reiterating that the country’s constitution prohibits surrendering territory.
Vance said the administration is also exploring the possibility of direct talks between Trump, Putin, and Zelenskyy, but suggested Putin should first meet the US president. “We’re at a point now where we’re trying to figure out… scheduling… around when these three leaders could sit down and discuss an end to this conflict,” he said. A White House official later confirmed Trump is open to a three-way summit, but that preparations are currently focused on the bilateral session requested by Putin.
A stalemated, attritional war
Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 has become Europe’s most devastating conflict since World War II, displacing millions, killing tens of thousands, and drawing deep Western sanctions on Moscow. After Ukraine’s counteroffensive in 2023 recaptured swathes of territory in the south and east, the front lines hardened through 2024 and into 2025, with neither side making major breakthroughs.
Russia still occupies Crimea, seized in 2014, and large portions of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions. Ukrainian forces, heavily reliant on Western military aid, have focused on defending strategic cities and disrupting Russian logistics, while Moscow has pounded Ukraine’s energy grid and infrastructure with missiles and drones.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsPrevious diplomatic efforts, including talks in Belarus and Turkey early in the war, collapsed over irreconcilable positions on territory and security guarantees. Analysts say any agreement now would likely have to address Ukraine’s Nato aspirations, Russian withdrawal demands, and long-term security arrangements for both nations.
With the Alaska meeting looming, expectations remain tempered. Peace, Vance indicated, may come not through triumph but through a deal that leaves both adversaries convinced they gave too much and got too little.
With inputs from Reuters