Russia needs to “wake up and accept reality” in its ongoing war against Ukraine, US Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday, stressing that the US is still pushing for peace, The Hill reported.
“We want peace here,” Vance said during an interview on Fox News. “We have been actively pursuing peace from the very beginning of the administration, but the Russians have got to wake up and accept reality here.”
Trump says Ukraine can win
His comments come after President Donald Trump said earlier this week that Ukraine is now in a strong position to win the war.
On Tuesday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Russia is a paper tiger and that Ukraine could take back all its territory if it keeps getting support.
“After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Tuesday.
Trump Meets Zelensky at UN
Recently, Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, as per The Hill. He has previously suggested that Ukraine would have to accept territorial concessions as part of a peace agreement.
Russian Gains and Rising Death Toll
Russia currently occupies all of Luhansk and Crimea–annexed by Moscow in 2014–as well as parts of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.
The war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, has taken a massive human toll. According to a June estimate by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, over 250,000 Russian soldiers and between 60,000 and 100,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed, according to The Hill.
Civilian casualties have also been devastating. The United Nations reported on September 10 that more than 14,100 Ukrainian civilians have died in the conflict. Meanwhile, The Moscow Times, an independent outlet now operating from Amsterdam, reported in May that over 620 Russian civilians have also lost their lives.
Call for Peace Talks
Vance, noting the mounting death toll, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to meet with Trump and Zelensky. After a meeting with Zelensky and European leaders at the White House last month, the president expressed optimism that a trilateral meeting would occur.
“A lot of people are dying,” Vance said. “They don’t have a lot to show for it. How many more people are they willing to lose? How many more people are they willing to kill for very little, if any, gain in the military advantage on the ground there?”
