Vice President J.D. Vance said Sunday on Fox News that Russia needs to "wake up and accept reality" that it can't win the war on Ukraine.
“We want peace here,” Vance said Sunday 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.”
Vance may have been alluding to comments made last week by President Donald Trump in which he said he thought Ukraine could actually win the war and regain all of its territory, even Crimea which has been under Russian control since 2014.
“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.
This messaging is different from what Trump and Vance have said in the past, as far as whether Ukraine could win back Crimea.
He had previously said that territorial concessions by Ukraine would have to be part of any peace agreement.
More than 250,000 Russian soldiers have died since the war began two-and-a-half years ago in February 2022. Ukraine's military losses are estimated at 60,000 to 100,000, with civilian losses numbering more than 14,000.
These estimates date back to June, so they are undoubtedly higher now.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to meet with the U.S. about the war in recent months.
“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?”
No doubt, Putin's pride is preventing him from throwing in the towel and making a peace deal.
Even a deal that resets things back to how they were before the war would be seen as a defeat for him.
Still, Vance's question has got to be eating at Putin. As bad as things are, they could get a lot worse for Russia if Europe and the U.S. continue to back Ukraine as they have been doing all along.
