U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance on Wednesday warned that Washington may abandon efforts to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine unless Moscow and Kyiv agree to terms currently under discussion.
“We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say ‘yes,’ or for the United States to walk away from this process,” Vance told reporters during a four-day visit to India.
His comments, which echoed those issued earlier by President Donald Trump, came as top diplomats from the U.S. and Europe skipped a new round of Ukraine peace talks in London, with the latest discussions on a ceasefire proposal taking place among senior officials.
“It’s now time, I think, to take, if not the final step, one of the final steps — which is, at a broad level, the parties saying we’re going to stop the killing, we’re going to freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today,” Vance said.
He acknowledged the plan would require both Russia and Ukraine to “give up some of the territory they currently own.”
Earlier, Axios reported that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff backed out of Wednesday’s talks in London after Ukraine signaled it wanted to focus on a 30-day ceasefire proposal rather than a broader U.S. framework.
That framework, according to the news outlet, includes U.S. recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, de facto acknowledgment of Moscow’s control over four other partially occupied Ukrainian regions, sanctions relief and the promise of future economic cooperation.
Axios noted that proposed security guarantees for Ukraine remain vague.
Trump, who previously said he could reach a Ukraine peace deal within 24 hours of returning to office, proposed an unconditional ceasefire in March. Kyiv accepted that proposal in principle, but the Kremlin later rejected it.
AFP contributed reporting.
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