“What the president has said very clearly about our Ukraine policy is that he wants the Ukrainians to come to the negotiating table,” Vance told reporters on Tuesday morning.

“We want the Ukrainians to have a sovereign and an independent country. We think the Ukrainian troops have fought very bravely, but we’re at a point here where neither Europe nor the United States nor the Ukrainians can continue this war indefinitely,” he added.

VP Vance says a mineral deal is still on the table

“Yeah, I certainly do. And I think the President is still committed to the mineral deal. I think we’ve heard some positive things, but not yet, of course, a signature from our friends in Ukraine…” pic.twitter.com/x1YWZGkDVx

— Alan He (@alanhe) March 4, 2025

The vice president’s comments come less than 24 hours after Trump ordered a halt on all U.S. military aid to Ukraine following a contentious meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House last week. Vance also told reporters that a rare mineral deal is still possible.

“I think we’ve heard some positive things, but not yet, of course, a signature from our friends in Ukraine,” Vance said. “The mineral deal is a really important part of the president’s policy. No. 1, the American people have got to get some payback for the incredible financial investment we’ve made in this country,” Vance said.

I would like to reiterate Ukraine’s commitment to peace.

None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 4, 2025

In a post on X, Zelensky expressed regret for the Oval Office spat with Trump last week and reiterated his commitment to sign a U.S. minerals deal “any time in any convenient format.”

“Ukraine is ready to sign it in any time and in any convenient format. We see this agreement as a step toward greater security and solid security guarantees, and I truly hope it will work effectively,” Zelensky said in the post.

Vance said “a lack of private engagement” from the Ukrainians is what has been “most concerning.”

“A lot of people have made this about public statements — President Zelensky needs to say that he’s committed to peace or President Zelensky needs to apologize to the president. The public stuff doesn’t matter nearly as much as what are the Ukrainians doing to meaningfully engage on what a peaceful settlement would look like,” Vance said.

“We need the Ukrainians privately to come to us and say, ‘This is what we need. This is what we want. This is how we’re going to participate in the process to end this conflict.’ That is the most important thing, and that lack of private engagement is what is most concerning to us,” he added.

TRUMP CUTS OFF UKRAINE AID TO COMPEL ZELENSKY TO GROVEL

The vice president pushed back on criticism that the Trump administration had not placed enough pressure on Russia.

“I mean, we still have a number of sanctions that are placed on the Russians. We do believe that the Russians, economically, are struggling because of this conflict. We do believe that it’s in Russia’s best interest, but also Ukraine and the United States’s best interest, to bring this conflict to a close,” he said.