United States (US) vice president JD Vance warned yesterday that the United States would “walk away” unless Russia and Ukraine agree to a peace deal, as envoys from Washington, Kyiv and European nations gathered for downgraded talks in Britain.
“We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say ‘yes’, or for the United States to walk away from this process,” Vance told reporters in India.
US media reported that president Donald Trump was ready to accept recognition of annexed land in Crimea as Russian territory, and Vance said land swaps would be fundamental to any deal.
“That means the Ukrainians and the Russians are both going to have to give up some of the territory they currently own,” he added.
The reports said the proposal was first raised at a meeting with European nations in Paris last week.
But French president Emmanuel Macron’s office told AFP yesterday that “Ukraine’s territorial integrity and European aspirations are very strong requirements for Europeans”.
The latest round of diplomacy comes after a fresh wave of Russian air strikes that shattered a brief Easter truce.
A Russian drone strike on a bus transporting workers in the southeastern city of Marganets killed nine people and wounded at least 30 more, the Dnipropetrovsk regional governor said yesterday.
Ukrainian authorities also reported strikes in the regions of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava and Odesa.
In light of the attacks, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for an “immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire”, adding that “stopping the killings is the number one task”.
Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a surprise Easter truce over the weekend.
It saw fighting dip and air attacks practically halt for 30 hours.
But Ukraine and its allies dismissed it as a public relations exercise from the Kremlin leader, saying Putin had no interest in real peace talks.
Russia launched more than 100 drones at Ukraine between Tuesday evening and early Wednesday, the Ukrainian air force said.
Ukrainian authorities also reported fires in several regions overnight after Russian attacks.
In Russia, one person was reported wounded by shelling in the Belgorod region.
United Kingdom foreign secretary David Lammy had been due to lead a meeting of foreign ministers in London yesterday, but his ministry said the talks had been downgraded to “official level” – a sign of the difficulties surrounding the negotiations.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “it has not yet been possible to reconcile positions on any issues, which is why this meeting did not take place”.
US Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg was still expected to attend, as was Macron’s diplomatic adviser Emmanuel Bonne.
Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Zelenskyy, said he had arrived in London with defence minister Rustem Umerov and foreign minister Andriy Sybiga, who was “likely” to meet Lammy.
“Despite everything, we will work for peace,” Yermak wrote on Telegram.
US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff is to visit Moscow this week.
According to the Financial Times, Putin told Witkoff he was prepared to halt the invasion and freeze the current frontline if Russia’s sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula, annexed in 2014, was recognised.
Peskov responded by saying that “a lot of fakes are being published at the moment”, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
Zelenskyy on Tuesday said his country would be ready for direct talks with Russia only after a ceasefire, though the Kremlin has said it cannot rush into a ceasefire deal.
Trump promised on the campaign trail to strike a deal between Moscow and Kyiv within 24 hours, but has since failed to secure concessions from Putin to halt his troops in Ukraine.
He said at the weekend he hoped an agreement could be struck “this week”.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said he had presented a US plan to end the war and discussed it with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during a phone conversation after the Paris meeting last week.
Both Rubio and Trump have warned since that the US could walk away from peace talks unless it saw quick progress.
In response to the US ultimatums, a spokesperson for United Kingdom prime minister Keir Starmer told reporters “it has to be up to Ukraine to decide its future” and “we will never walk away from Ukraine”.
Trump proposed an unconditional ceasefire in March, the principle of which was accepted by Kyiv but rejected by Putin.
The White House welcomed a separate agreement by both sides to halt attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days, but the Kremlin has said it considers that moratorium to have expired.
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