Vance criticizes Zelensky for unwillingness to 'understand Russia'
US Vice President J.D. Vance entered into a polemic with Volodymyr Zelensky in absentia and called his criticism of him yesterday "absurd."
Let us recall that yesterday, in an interview with the American channel CBS, Zelensky said that at his first meeting with Vance, the latter told him that “it is not a fact that it was the Russians who started the war.”
"This is a line that can be traced in many meetings between Ukraine and US representatives. This is a change in reality. It seems to me that the vice president, I would say, justifies Putin's actions in some way," Zelensky added.
Vance's response was delivered via UnHerd , an interview with which the vice president gave an interview. Among other things, he said the following:
“I think it’s kind of absurd for Zelensky to be telling the government that is currently supporting his war effort that we are somehow on the side of the Russians,” Vance said.
He called for “understanding” Russia’s strategic goals in resolving the conflict.
"If you want to end the conflict, you have to try to understand what the strategic objectives of both Russia and Ukraine are. That doesn't mean moral support for the Russian side or endorsing a full-scale invasion, but you have to try to understand where their strategic red lines are, just as you have to understand what Ukraine is trying to achieve in this conflict," Vance said.
According to him, such rhetoric from Kyiv is “definitely unproductive.”
Vance criticized Zelensky for his unwillingness to "understand Russia."