Vance and Rubio echo Trump's new, tough approach to Russia's war

2025-09-25 09:06:49, Kosova & Bota CNA

US Vice President JD Vance and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio have echoed President Donald Trump's new, tougher approach against Russia, accusing Moscow of not doing enough to end the war and stop the killings in Ukraine.

On Wednesday night, Vance said that Trump "thinks they're not doing enough at the negotiating table to end the war... If the Russians don't agree to talk in good faith, I think it's going to be very, very bad for their country."

Meanwhile, Rubio met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, where he reiterated Trump's call "to end the killings and the need for Moscow to take meaningful steps toward a lasting resolution to the Russia-Ukraine war."

Lavrov responded by saying there is a "common interest in finding a peaceful solution" to the war in Ukraine.

But he reiterated Moscow's need to "eliminate the root causes of the Ukrainian conflict."

This is Kremlin language to place limits on Ukraine's military power and a pledge that it will not join NATO. These are just a few of Moscow's many historic demands, most of which are unacceptable to Kiev and the West.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the claim that Ukraine could reclaim all of its occupied land, saying that "the idea that Ukraine could reclaim anything is, in our view, wrong."

The US administration's new stance comes after Trump, in a sudden U-turn, said on social media on September 23 that Ukraine could reclaim all the land occupied by Russia with the help of its European supporters.

Russia controls about a fifth of Ukraine's land, including the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014.

In the past, Trump and other US officials have hinted that Ukraine would have to give up parts of its land to Russia in a peace deal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his country "are in deep economic trouble," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

"Having fully understood the military and economic situation of Ukraine and Russia, and having seen the economic problems it is causing Russia, I believe that Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is capable of fighting back and reclaiming all of its land in its original form," Trump wrote.

In his speech to the General Assembly a few hours later, Trump said the United States is "fully prepared to impose a very strong round of very strong tariffs" if Russia is not "ready to make a deal to end the war."

But he reiterated his final condition that Europe take similar action, saying that, “for these tariffs to be effective, European countries… must join us in adopting the same measures.”

These statements mean that the American president has convincingly changed his approach.

Because, in recent years, Trump has often praised Putin and blamed Ukraine for the conflict - which turned into open war after Russia launched its invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was surprised by Trump's latest statements, but called them a positive sign that Washington will support Kiev until the end of the war./REL