Vice President JD Vance told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that all military and economic options were on the table if Russia did not agree to negotiate in good faith to end the war in Ukraine.
“There are economic tools of leverage, there are, of course, military tools of leverage” available to the United States against President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Mr. Vance told The Journal in an interview published late Thursday. Mr. Vance is expected to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in Munich on Friday.
Mr. Vance’s comments came after President Trump on Wednesday said that he had begun talks with Mr. Putin to end the war. Mr. Trump also said that it was unlikely that Ukraine would return to its pre-2014 borders, and that future NATO membership for the country was not practical.
Mr. Vance told The Journal that it was too early to talk about specific territorial arrangements or security guarantees for Ukraine. “There are any number of formulations, of configurations, but we do care about Ukraine having sovereign independence,” he said.
Mr. Trump on Wednesday did not mention including Ukraine in the talks, an omission that caused concern among American allies in Europe that Ukraine may be sidelined from these negotiations. A day later, Mr. Trump said that “of course” Ukraine would be involved.
Mr. Zelensky also spoke with Mr. Trump on Wednesday. Mr. Zelensky has said that any agreements without Ukraine would not be acceptable.
“The president is not going to go in this with blinders on,” Mr. Vance told The Journal. “He’s going to say, ‘Everything is on the table, let’s make a deal.’”
Mr. Vance’s comment about military leverage against Russia came a day after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the deployment of American troops in Ukraine would not be part of any security guarantee.
