US, Russia spar over Ukraine war amid calls for ‘killing to stop’
‘If the Russians refuse to negotiate in good faith, I think it’s going to be very, very bad for their country,’ Vance warns
US Vice-President J.D. Vance warned on Wednesday that Donald Trump was “growing incredibly impatient” with Moscow as Washington’s stance on Russia hardens after diplomatic efforts to resolve the war in Ukraine stalled.
Trump performed a stunning about-turn at the United Nations on Tuesday, suggesting that Ukraine could not only retake all of the territory it lost to Russia militarily, but also take even more.
Trump “doesn’t feel like they’re putting enough on the table to end the war. If the Russians refuse to negotiate in good faith, I think it’s going to be very, very bad for their country,” Vance said in North Carolina.
In a meeting earlier on Wednesday in New York, top US diplomat Marco Rubio apparently clashed with his Russian counterpart, calling for the “killing to stop” and demanding Moscow “take meaningful steps towards a durable resolution”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov fired back and “stressed the unacceptability of the schemes promoted by Kyiv and some European capitals aimed at prolonging the conflict”, according to a readout of their conversation supplied by the Russian side.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised Trump following the US president’s unexpected turn against Russia, but cautioned that Nato alone could not underwrite his country’s security.