NEW YORK, February 14. /TASS/. The United States could impose additional sanctions on Russia and even deploy US military personnel to Ukraine, Vice President JD Vance told The Wall Street Journal in an interview.
According to him, the option of deploying US military personnel to Ukraine was still "on the table" for Washington, should Moscow refuse to negotiate "in good faith." Moreover, the US could use "economic tools of leverage," and "of course military tools of leverage" against Russia, Vance warned.
Vance believes it is premature to say exactly what security assurances the United States and the West could provide to Ukraine. Those specifics, he continued, would be clarified in possible peace talks. "There are various possible approaches, but we do care about Ukraine maintaining its sovereign independence," the US vice president stated.
The senior US official also told The Wall Street Journal that the administration of US President Donald Trump would seek to persuade Russian leader Vladimir Putin that Moscow would achieve more at the negotiation table than on the battlefield. Commenting on a recent statement from the Pentagon chief who said it would not be realistic for Ukraine to return to the pre-2014 borders, Vance admitted that Trump could reevaluate his position depending on how the negotiations proceed.
On February 12, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth dismissed the idea of returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders as "an unrealistic objective" as he addressed another meeting of the Ramstein Group in Brussels. Additionally, he effectively ruled out Ukraine's NATO membership and warned Europe that, as the Trump administration sees it, it must ensure its own security.
In a telephone conversation on February 12, Putin and Trump discussed, among other things, the prospects for resolving the situation in Ukraine. According to the Kremlin, the US president expressed support for an early ceasefire and a peaceful resolution. Putin, for his part, emphasized the need to address the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a lasting settlement could be achieved through peace talks, the Russian presidential press service highlighted.