Vance and Zelensky vow to meet again after Ukraine talks in Munich

Munich, Germany - Vice President JD Vance said Friday the US was targeting a "durable peace" in Ukraine, after holding talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Munich.

Vice President JD Vance (r.) said Friday the US was targeting a "durable peace" in Ukraine, after holding talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Munich.
Vice President JD Vance (r.) said Friday the US was targeting a "durable peace" in Ukraine, after holding talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Munich.  © Collage: REUTERS

Both Vance and Zelensky said they had had a "good" conversation and would meet again for talks in future.

"Our first meeting, not last, I'm sure," Zelensky remarked after the meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Vance was joined on the US side by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Keith Kellogg, President Donald Trump's special envoy on the Ukraine war.

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"We want the war to come to a close, we want the killing to stop, but we want to achieve a durable, lasting peace, not the kind of peace that's going to have Eastern Europe in conflict just a couple years down the road," Vance said after the meeting.

"It's important for us to get together and start to have the conversations that are going to be necessary to bring this thing to a close," the vice president said, with reference to the war in Ukraine.

"That's all I'm going to say for now, because I want to preserve the optionality here for the negotiators and our respective teams to bring this thing to a responsible close," he said.

Trump shocked allies earlier this week by speaking directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone and announcing that talks with Moscow to end its invasion of Ukraine would start "immediately".

Cover photo: Collage: REUTERS

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