U.S. Vice President JD Vance was a guest on the conservative podcast The Charlie Kirk Show, where he spoke on a variety of issues including the Russia-Ukraine war.
After warning last week that the U.S. might “walk away” from the peace negotiations process between the Russians and Ukrainians — and European allies — mainly because Ukrainian President Zelensky won’t accept Crimea as a Russian territory, Vance is now issuing another warning.
As heard in the audio below, Vance told Kirk: “If this [war] doesn’t stop, the Ukrainians aren’t winning the war. I think there’s this weird idea among the mainstream media that if this thing goes on for just another few years, the Russians will collapse, the Ukrainians will take their territory back, and everything will go back to the way it was before the war. That’s not the reality we live in.”
Vance: Ukraine will not defeat Russia if the war drags on.
There’s a weird idea in the media that Russia will just collapse and Ukraine will take everything back. That’s not the reality we live in. 1/ pic.twitter.com/o5LEros6YW
— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) April 29, 2025
Vance added: “If this [war] goes on for another few years, we could have, you know, societies collapsing, the demographics of both of these countries are a nightmare, you could have millions more people killed if this thing keeps going for another few years, and it could risk escalating into a nuclear war.”
Vance: If this [war] goes on for years, societies could collapse, demographics in both countries will worsen.
Millions more could die – and it could escalate into nuclear war. It has to stop. 2/ pic.twitter.com/8LNkkOO9Z7
— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) April 29, 2025
[NOTE: Trump’s Special Envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, points out that Russia isn’t winning the war either at present, telling Fox News: “Russia’s not winning this war. Russia has not made any major advances in the last year and a half. They haven’t taken the city of Kyiv, the capital, they haven’t pushed to the west of the Dnipro river, they haven’t taken Odesa.”]
Tymofiy Mylovanov, Ukraine’s former Minister of Economy and president of Kyiv School of Economics, is amplifying Vance’s comments on X, where he is also criticizing the Trump administration’s proposed mineral deals with Ukraine.
This is what is happening.
The U.S. wants Ukraine to sign all three mineral deals, not one, today or else. (Yes, there are 3!). But this is legally impossible. The courts will annul 2 out of 3 deals later. Yet, the U.S. side insists.
Details: 1/ pic.twitter.com/e1RHNqZVvg
— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) April 30, 2025
Mylovanov wrote today: “The U.S. wants Ukraine to sign all three mineral deals, not one, today or else. (Yes, there are 3!). But this is legally impossible. The courts will annul 2 out of 3 deals later. Yet, the U.S. side insists.”
Noting that the previous minerals deal collapsed as Trump insisted billions in past military aid be treated as loans to be repaid through the agreement, Mylovanov says that that now “the U.S. wants a quick win and threatens to walk away if all 3 deals are not signed today.”