Vance no-show at London talks for Ukraine truce risks US walking away
kyiv: A planned meeting Wednesday between top US, British, French and Ukrainian diplomats to push forward a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine was scrapped at the last minute, with US Vice President JD Vance saying negotiations are reaching a moment of truth.
“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 visit Wednesday to Agra, India.
He said it was “a very fair proposal” that would “freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today,” with both sides having to give up some territory they currently hold. He did not provide further details of the proposal.
Vance’s comments came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ruled out ceding territory to Russia as part of any potential peace agreement, calling it a nonstarter. The Ukrainian leader spoke Tuesday in response to reports the Trump administration was proposing a deal that would allow Russia to keep occupied Ukrainian territory as part of a potential peace agreement.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the talks in London to find an end to the more than three-year war would involve only lower-ranking officials after the US State Department said Tuesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was unable to attend because of a scheduling issue. Rubio’s abrupt cancellation raised doubts about the direction of the negotiations.
Commenting on those attending the London talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “as far as we understand, they so far have failed to bring their positions closer on some issues”.
He said the Kremlin was still in consultations with American officials but wouldn’t publicly discuss details.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Moscow again later this week, according to Russian officials.
Peskov said the Ukraine crisis is very complicated and cannot be resolved overnight.
He urged not to be carried away by “leaks” of details of the Trump peace plan in the Western media. He said the Kremlin will announce when Trump’s West Asia envoy Steve Witkoff will come to Russia.
Even achieving a limited, 30-day ceasefire has been beyond the reach of negotiators, as both sides have
continued to attack each other in a grinding war of attrition along the 1,000-km front line and launch long-range strikes. A Russian drone struck a bus carrying workers in Marganets, in eastern
Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region on Wednesday morning, killing eight women and one man.
