Vance urges Russia and Ukraine to accept territorial cessions and threatens US withdrawal from mediation

Vice President JD Vance has warned that the United States will withdraw from its role as mediator between Russia and Ukraine if the two nations fail to reach a peace agreement soon. Just last Sunday, Vance unexpectedly expressed "optimism" about the peace process, only hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned both Kyiv and Moscow that the Trump administration is prepared to "move on" if the negotiations don't accelerate.

During a visit to India, Vance stressed that the U.S. made a "very explicit proposal" to the two sides, including the need to swap territories, "and it's time for them to say yes or for the United States to withdraw from this process."

"This is the time, I think, to take, if not the final step, one of the final steps, which is generally to say we're going to stop the killing, we're going to freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today. Of course that means that Ukrainians and Russians are going to have to give up some of the territory that they currently hold."

Mutual accusations of violation of Easter ceasefire

Following Rubio's warning, President Putin proposed an Easter truce to President Zelensky, who accepted it with marked reluctance. However, both Ukraine and Russia have since accused each other of violating the ceasefire almost immediately after it went into effect.

Shortly before this latest attempt to halt attacks, the Kremlin announced that it considered the 30-day moratorium on strikes against rival energy facilities, as calculated by Moscow, to be officially over.