Policy

Vance has put forward new requirements for Ukraine to resume aid supplies from the United States. What did the politician say this time?

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said that in order to resume aid supplies, Ukraine must “sit down at the negotiating table”. This was reported by CNN, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.

Vance added that US President Donald Trump remains committed to the rare minerals deal.

“We want Ukrainians to have a sovereign and independent country. We believe that Ukrainian troops are fighting very bravely, but we are at a stage where neither Europe, nor the United States, nor Ukrainians can continue this war indefinitely,” the vice president said.

That is why, according to him, “it is important for everyone to sit down at the negotiating table.”

“And the president is trying to send a very clear message: Ukrainians should sit down at the negotiating table and start negotiating with President Trump on a minerals deal,” Vance emphasized.

When asked whether he believes a deal on rare minerals is still possible, Vance said: “Absolutely, yes.”

“And I think the president is still committed to a minerals deal. I think we’ve heard some positive things, but we certainly haven’t signed an agreement with our friends in Ukraine yet,” he said.

Vance also accused the Ukrainians of being unwilling to “negotiate in good faith” and said that the United States has not been treated fairly when it comes to helping Ukraine.

“It’s really ridiculous and, frankly, insulting to the American people that Europeans are getting better terms than Americans,” he said.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy regretted that his meeting with Donald Trump in Washington “did not go as planned” and added that Ukraine was eager to get to the negotiating table as soon as possible to achieve a lasting peace.

“None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to sit down at the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring a lasting peace. No one wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I are ready to work under the strong leadership of President Trump to achieve a lasting peace,” the President wrote.

Zelenskyy named the first possible stages of the truce: the release of prisoners, an immediate ceasefire in the sky – a ban on missiles, long-range drones and attacks on civilian infrastructure, and a cessation of hostilities at sea if Russia does the same.

According to him, Ukraine hopes to quickly pass all the next stages and agree with the United States “on a strong final agreement.”

Zelenskyy assured that Ukraine remembers how much America has done to help us preserve our sovereignty and independence.

“And we remember the turning point when President Trump granted Ukraine ‘javelins’. We are grateful for that. Our meeting in Washington, at the White House, on Friday did not go as planned. It is a shame that it happened. It’s time to make things right. We would like our cooperation and communication to be constructive in the future,” the president expressed hope.

Zelenskyy noted that Ukraine is ready to sign an agreement with the United States on minerals and security at any time.

“We see this agreement as a step towards strengthening security and reliable security guarantees, and I sincerely hope that it will work effectively,” he concluded.

Who is James David Vance?

James David Vance, born James Donald Bowman, is an American politician and entrepreneur, Vice President of the United States, U.S. Senator from Ohio (2023-2025), and a Marine Corps veteran.

He was born on August 2, 1984 in Middletown, Ohio, a region of the so-called Rust Belt, which can be translated as “rust belt”, once perhaps the largest industrial part of the United States.

However, over time, a large number of businesses were forced to close, which in turn led to an exodus of people from the region, unemployment, and poverty. His parents divorced when he was a child. Throughout his childhood, Vance’s mother struggled with heroin and opioid addiction. He was raised by his grandparents.

Vance attended public high school in his hometown of Middletown.

In 2003, Vance enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, where he served as a war journalist with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. In 2005, he was deployed to Iraq for six months on a non-combat assignment where he wrote articles and took photographs. He was promoted to corporal. In 2007, he completed his service.

In 2009, he graduated from The Ohio State University, where he studied political science and philosophy, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in political science and philosophy.

He graduated from Yale Law School in 2013.

After graduating from law school, Vance worked for Republican Senator John Cornyn. He spent a year clerking for Judge David Bunning of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, then worked at the law firm Sidley Austin, beginning a brief career as a corporate lawyer. After practicing law for just under two years, Vance moved to San Francisco to work in the technology industry as a venture capitalist. From 2016 to 2017, he served as a director at Peter Thiel’s firm Mithril Capital.

In 2017, he became a business partner of AOL co-founder Steve Case in Revolution LLC, a venture capital company that operates in the so-called “rust belt” regions to help them recover from the decline of traditional industries.

In the 2022 Republican Senate primary, Vance received support from Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, and Peter Thiel. He won 32% of the vote in the primary. on November 8, 2022, Vance won the election to the US Senate.

on July 15, 2024, on the eve of the 2024 Republican National Convention, Vance was announced by Truth Social as a candidate for Vice President of the United States on behalf of Donald Trump. Initially opposed to Donald Trump’s candidacy in the 2016 election, Vance became a staunch Trump supporter during Trump’s first presidency.

on January 10, 2025, he resigned as a senator in preparation for the US vice presidency.

Vance and Ukraine

J.D. Vance is one of the biggest critics of aid to Ukraine. He suggested that Kyiv should declare a neutral status, negotiate with Russia and be ready to make territorial concessions.

In the U.S. Congress, Vance has been a vocal opponent of foreign aid, opposing legislation to send additional U.S. aid to Ukraine because of a full-scale Russian invasion.

And on the eve of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the United States in December 2023, Vance said that it would be in America’s best interests for Ukraine to cede part of its territory to Russia and insisted on the need to end this war.

“The problem of Ukraine is not the US Republicans. It’s math. Ukraine needs more military than it can call up. And it needs more military equipment than the United States can provide,” Vance said in an article for the New York Times.

According to Vance, Ukraine should “pursue a defense strategy that will help preserve its desperately needed military, stop the bloodshed, and give it time to start negotiating.” This, however, implies that “the U.S. and Ukrainian leadership must recognize that Mr. Zelenskiy’s goal of restoring the 1991 borders is illusory,” Vance said.

“He is even more radical on Ukraine than Trump and wants to end military support for Ukraine. In terms of foreign policy, he is more isolationist than Trump,” said Nils Schmid, the SPD’s foreign policy spokesman, and warned that Vance could “put personal loyalty to Trump above the constitution.”

Also, on April 20, 2023, Vance, along with 18 other representatives of the US Republican Party, signed a letter to US President Joe Biden stating that “unlimited US aid to Ukraine must end” and that the signatories would “strongly oppose all future aid packages unless they are linked to a transparent diplomatic strategy to bring this war to a swift end”.

on April 24, 2024, he voted against providing aid to Ukraine.

Vance is also the author of the book” Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, in which he is nostalgic for the past of his hometown, Middletown, Ohio. The book was included in the New York Times bestseller lists in 2016 and 2017, and was a finalist for the 2017 Dayton Peace Prize. A movie based on the book was released on Netflix.

The book received significant national media attention during the 2016 US presidential election, becoming a window into the white working class.

in 2020, a film adaptation of the book was released, directed by Ron Howard and starring Gabriel Basso as James David Vance. The film also stars Amy Adams, Glenn Close, and Frida Pinto.

The day before, it became known that the Lithuanian publishing house Sofoklis withdrew the book “Elegy of the Highlanders” by US Vice President J.D. Vance from sale after reports that the White House had suspended all military aid to Ukraine, the publishing house said on its social media.

They say that “Elegy of the Highlanders” was withdrawn from sale “until the US foreign policy toward Ukraine changes.”

Instead, the publishing house urged readers to support Ukraine, in particular through the Blue/Yellow volunteer organization. It also advised readers to read books by Ukrainian authors that it had published.

In addition, this book caused a number of false allegations from social media user X that Vance described sex with a “latex glove turned inside out, stuffed between two sofa cushions” in his memoir. This statement was later denied, but it led to the emergence of memes in which the US Vice President appears with sofas.

As a reminder, on February 4, the American media learned of Trump’s order to suspend all military aid to Ukraine until he sees that Ukraine’s leadership “demonstrates goodwill toward peace.” The decision also applies to weapons that had already left the United States and were headed for the Ukrainian border.

Subsequently, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that information from the border and the US aid hub in Jasionka confirmed the reports of the suspension of US aid to Ukraine.

According to the WSJ, Trump decided to freeze the aid after the Ukrainian president said that the war could last for a long time. The decision was allegedly supported by all his top advisers.