U.S. Vice President JD Vance warned Russia that Washington could hit Moscow with sanctions if it does not agree to a good peace deal with Ukraine, and also urged Europeans to spend more on defence as he arrived for an international security conference.
Vance was set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday in the margins of the Munich Security Conference after President Donald Trump startled U.S. allies by calling Russian President Vladimir Putin and announcing the start of talks to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump's move stoked fears among European governments that they might be cut out of a deal to end the war that could end up being too favourable to Russia and undermine their own security.
But before his meeting with Zelenskiy, Vance said the United States could hit Moscow with sanctions and possible military action if Putin did not agree to a peace deal with Ukraine that guarantees Kyiv's long-term independence.
"There are economic tools of leverage, there are of course military tools of leverage" the U.S. could use against Putin, Vance said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
"There are any number of formulations, of configurations, but we do care about Ukraine having sovereign independence."
PRESSURE ON EUROPE
Speaking ahead of the Munich conference, an annual gathering of major political leaders, military officers and diplomats in the German city, Vance also reiterated Trump's demand that Europe do more to safeguard its own defence.
"We think a big part of that is ensuring that NATO does a little bit more burden-sharing in Europe, so the United States can focus on some of our challenges in East Asia," he said, alluding to China.
Before the two held talks, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that Vance was "absolutely right" about the need for Europe "stepping up" and doing more for its own defence. "We have to grow up in that sense and spend much more," Rutte said.
'END THE WAR'?
Zelenskiy has been publicly cordial about Trump's call with the Russian president but also warned world leaders against "trusting Putin’s claims of readiness to end the war" touched off by Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Trump’s contact with Putin and his upbeat description of the conversation reversed years of U.S. policy under the Biden administration of treating the Russian leader as an international pariah since Russian forces swept into Ukraine.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth compounded the unease among U.S. allies by declaring that Ukraine would have to give up on war objectives such as a return to its borders before 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, and NATO membership.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reiterated those concerns on Friday. "A sham peace - over the heads of Ukrainians and Europeans - would gain nothing," she said.
"A sham peace would not bring lasting security, neither for the people in Ukraine nor for us in Europe or the United States. And that's why it's so important that we are now talking intensively with our American and international partners at the Munich Security Conference."
Rutte said they would discuss how "to get Ukraine to a place of maximum strength when the talks start". There must be a “lasting peace (and Putin) can never try it again,” he said.
Trump said on Thursday U.S. and Russian officials would also meet in Munich on Friday and Ukraine was invited. But Kyiv said it did not expect to hold talks with Russia in the city.
No Russian officials were invited to the three-day conference, which takes place in a luxury city centre hotel, but that would not prevent a meeting elsewhere in Munich.
As a senator, Vance expressed blunt scepticism about U.S. support for Ukraine.
Speaking on a podcast in 2022, he said: "I don't really care what happens in Ukraine one way or the other."
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was due to take part in the Munich meeting with Zelenskiy as well.
It was unclear if he would make it to Munich in time after his U.S. Air Force plane was forced to return to Washington after experiencing a mechanical problem.
