Vance threatens Russia with sanctions, and military action if Putin doesn’t agree Ukraine deal
Vice President JD Vance declared Thursday that the US will consider sanctions and even military action if Russian Vladimir Putin refuses to end the nearly three-year-long war in Ukraine.
“There are economic tools of leverage, there are of course military tools of leverage” that could be deployed against Putin, Vance told the Wall Street Journal.
The possibility of sending US troops to Ukraine is “on the table,” according to the vice president if the Kremlin fails to negotiate a settlement to war in good faith.
Vance’s comments stand in contrast to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s remarks from Brussels Wednesday, where during a meeting of Ukraine allies he ruled out the possibility of US boots on the ground in the war-torn nation.
Hegseth insisted that “any security guarantee” given to Ukraine to prevent a return to war with Russia after a peace deal “must be backed by capable European and non-European troops.”
The defense secretary later told reporters that “what concessions will be made or what concessions will not be made” will be up to President Trump, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Vance’s remarks come one day before a critical meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and a US delegation — which is expected to include the vice president, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Keith Kellogg — will take place at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
The meeting is expected to center on how to end the war.
“The president is not going to go in this with blinders on,” Vance said of Trump’s desire to broker a deal between Kyiv and Moscow. “He’s going to say, ‘Everything is on the table, let’s make a deal.’”
While Vance insisted that Ukraine maintaining its independence would be required in any deal with Putin, he refused to say how much of the country’s territory currently occupied by Russia would be allowed to remain controlled by the Kremlin.
“There are any number of formulations, of configurations, but we do care about Ukraine having sovereign independence,” the vice president said.
Vance suggested that those details, as well as whether the US or European nations would provide Kyiv with security guarantees, would be worked out during the peace talks.
He also signaled that Trump could decide to put things on the table or take them off depending on how the negotiations go.
“President Trump could say, look, we don’t want this thing, we might not like this thing, but we’re willing to put it back on the table if the Russians aren’t being good negotiating partners, or there are things that are very important to Ukrainians that we might want to take off the table,” Vance said.
Trump, 78, revealed Wednesday that he and Putin had agreed to start talks “immediately” to end the war.
“[W]e want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine,” the president posted on Truth Social.
On Thursday, Trump told reporters that Ukraine would be a party to talks with Russia — a sticking point for Zelensky — while also expressing a desire to allow Russia back into the G-7.
