The vice president of the United States, JD Vance, warned Wednesday that the United States would “move away” unless Russia and Ukraine agreed a peace agreement, as envoys of the Nations of Washington, kyiv and European met for degraded conversations in Great Britain.
“We have issued a very explicit proposal to both Russians and Ukrainians, and it is time for them to say ‘yes’ or that the United States moves away from this process,” Vance told journalists in India.
The American media reported that President Donald Trump was ready to accept the recognition of land annexed in Crimea as Russian territory, and Vance said that land swaps would be fundamental for any agreement.
“That means that Ukrainians and Russians will have to give up some of the territory they currently have,” he added.
The reports say that the proposal was first raised at a meeting with the European nations in Paris last week.
The last round of diplomacy occurs in the middle of a new wave of Russian air attacks that destroyed a brief Easter truce.
A Russian unmanned aircraft strike on a bus that transported workers in the city of Southeast Marganets killed nine people and wounded at least 30 more, the regional governor of Dnipropetrovsk said Wednesday. The Ukrainian authorities also reported strikes in the regions of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava and Odessa.
In Russia, a person was reported injured by bombing in the Belgorod region.
Work for peace
The Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, David Lammy, had to direct a meeting of Foreign Ministers in London on Wednesday, but his ministry said the conversations had been degraded, a sign of the difficulties around the negotiations.
“The Peace Conversations Meeting of Ukraine with Foreign Ministers today is postponing. The official conversations will continue,” said the United Kingdom Foreign Ministry.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “from what we understand, it has not yet been possible to reconcile positions in any problem, so this meeting did not take place.”
Ukraine envoy of the United States is expected to use Kellogg Asista, along with Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic advisor to French president Emmanuel Macron.
Andriy Yermak, a leading assistant of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said he had arrived in London with the Minister of Defense, Rustem Uumerov, and Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga, who is “probably” to meet Lammy.
“In spite of everything, we will work for peace,” Yermak wrote on Telegram.
A source of Ukrainian presidency then said AFP that the delegation would meet with Kellogg, and that “there will be more meetings with Europeans, different meetings.”
The presidential envoy of the United States, Steve Witkoff, will visit Moscow this week.
According The Financial TimesPresident Vladimir Putin told Witkoff that he was prepared to stop the invasion and freeze the first line if Russia’s sovereignty about the Crimean Peninsula was recognized, annexed in 2014.
Peskov replied saying that “many falsifications are being published at this time,” according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
Zelensky said Tuesday that his country would be ready for direct conversations with Russia only after a stop the fire, although the Kremlin has said that he cannot hurry to a high fire agreement.
Trump promised in the campaign to reach an agreement between Moscow and kyiv in 24 hours, but since then he has failed to ensure Putin’s concessions to stop his troops in Ukraine.
He said the weekend that he hoped that he could reach an agreement “this week.”
Trump ‘frustrated’
The United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said he had presented an US plan to end the war and discussed it with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during a telephone conversation after the Paris meeting last week.
Both Rubio and Trump have warned that the United States could move away from peace conversations unless you see a quick progress.
Trump “wants this war to end … and has been frustrated with both sides of this war, and has made it well known,” said his spokesman Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday.
Rubio had said in Paris that he would go to London if he thought his assistance could be useful. But Lammy wrote on X on Tuesday night he had had a “productive call” with Rubio.
Trump proposed a high unconditional fire in March, whose principle was accepted by Kyiv but rejected by Putin.
The White House welcomed a separate agreement from both parties to stop attacks against energy infrastructure for 30 days, but the Kremlin has said that it considers that the moratorium has expired.
