JD Vance has issued a threat against Russia if President Vladimir Putin backs out on the peace deal with Ukraine. He has emphasized that the United States will take military action if the Kremlin doesn’t agree to the deal. As Donald Trump prepares to meet with the Russian president, Vance laid out the prospect of a peace plan. While talking to the Wall Street Journal, he insisted that “everything is one table” in an effort to ensure Kyiv’s long-term independence.
“There are economic tools of leverage, there are of course military tools of leverage the U.S. could use against Putin,” JD Vance said while talking to the newspaper. He emphasized that Trump “would not hold back” when it comes to negotiating with his Russian counterpart. He noted, “The president is not going to go in this with blinders on. He’s going to say, ‘Everything is on the table, let’s make a deal.'” In his final statement, the vice president stated that the deal that will come out of this is “going to shock a lot of people.”
Meanwhile, just a day before, Donald Trump said that he believes Vladimir Putin wants peace in Ukraine. The POTUS made this statement during a press conference at his Oval Office on Thursday while talking to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. He said, “I believe President Putin when I spoke to him yesterday. I know him very well. I think he wants peace. I think he would tell me if he didn’t. I trust him on this subject. I think he’d like to see something happen.”
His comment came a day after he had a 90-minute-long phone call with the Russian president. After discussing with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Trump instructed American officials to begin peace talks to end the three-year-long conflict between the two nations.
In addition to this, Donald Trump also commented that “Putin would love to back” in the G7. “I think it was a mistake to throw them out…Look, it is not a question of whether or not I like Russia…It was the G8,” he emphasized.
BREAKING: President Trump just said he wants Russia back in the G7. This stunned all the fake news reporters
“I’d love to have them back. I think it was a mistake to throw them out… they should be sitting at the table. I think Putin would love to be back.” pic.twitter.com/KS6FvmEzhn
— George (@BehizyTweets) February 13, 2025
His statement was followed by Defense Secretary Hegseth’s outlook towards returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders before Russia took over Crimea. He commented that it is “unrealistic.” He also noted that the United States does not plan to see NATO membership for Kyiv as part of the peace deal. Donald Trump backed Hegseth’s comment, saying, “I don’t see any way that a country in Russia’s position could allow them…just in their position…could allow them to join NATO.”
Meanwhile, European diplomats are not happy with the president’s proposal of a peace negotiation with Putin over Ukraine’s fate. EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas lamented that no talks “behind our backs” will work out, adding, “We shouldn’t take anything off the table before the negotiations have even started.”
“It will just simply not work,” Kallas commented, saying that the “quick fix” would appear as a “dirty deal.” In addition, Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, found Trump’s call with Putin “not very pleasant.” He said that the U.S. president should have talked to him before phoning Vladimir Putin.