Vance says Russia has made 'significant concessions' on Ukraine

Vice President JD Vance said Sunday that Russia has made "significant concessions" in talks to end its war with Ukraine but didn't rule out imposing more sanctions to pressure the Kremlin toward peace.

In an interview aired Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Vance was asked if Russia is stringing President Donald Trump along, Vance said no and said the Russians have been "flexible" on some of its demands.

"I think the Russians have made significant concessions to President Trump for the first time in 3 1/2 years of this conflict. They've actually been willing to be flexible on some of their core demands. They've talked about what would be necessary to end the war," he said. "Of course, they haven't been completely there yet, or the war would be over. But we're engaging in this diplomatic process in good faith."

"We sometimes feel like we've made great progress with the Russians, and sometimes, as the president has said, he's been very frustrated with the Russians," Vance continued.

The vice president was pressed on why he believes Russia wants to pursue peace given that it has rejected the ceasefire proposal that Trump put forward and that there's no planned meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"Well, I didn't say they conceded on everything," he replied. "But what they have conceded is the recognition that Ukraine will have territorial integrity after the war. They've recognized that they're not going to be able to install a puppet regime in Kyiv. That was, of course, a major demand at the beginning. And importantly, they've acknowledged that there is going to be some security guarantee to the territorial integrity of Ukraine."

Vance told NBC that more sanctions against Russia are possible, but those decisions would be made on a case-by-case basis.

"No, sanctions aren't off the table. But we're going to make these determinations on a case-by-case basis. What do we think is actually going to exert the right kind of leverage to bring the Russians to the table," Vance said.

In a separate interview taped Friday and aired Sunday on "Meet the Press," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was asked what he would say to U.S. lawmakers who have accused Russia of stringing Trump along, Lavrov said that Russia respects the U.S. president.

"It is not for the lawmakers or for any media outlet to, to decide, you know, what President Trump is motivated by -- we respect President Trump because President Trump defends American national interests," Lavrov said.

The Russian foreign minister said it is European leaders who met with Trump and Zelenskyy last week in Washington and not Putin that are an impediment to getting a peace agreement.

"And I have reason to believe that President Trump respects President Putin because he defends Russian national interests," he added. "And whatever they discuss between themselves is not a secret. We want peace in Ukraine. He wants, President Trump wants, peace in Ukraine. The reaction to Anchorage meeting, the gathering in Washington of these European representatives and what they were doing after Washington indicates that they don't want peace."

Lavrov told NBC there is no scheduled meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy as Trump has pushed for, saying that there needs to be an agenda first before anything is finalized.

Zelenskyy said Friday there will be no meeting between the presidents because Russia doesn't want to end the war.

"The issue is not just the meeting. The issue is that they don't want to end the war," he said. "A bilateral meeting is one of the components of how to end the war. It's not all, it's one of the components. And since they don't want to end it, they will look for space for it. And this space needs to be reduced. America and Europe in unity reduce this space for war."

U.S. and European defense officials have discussed security assurances for Ukraine to prevent further Russian aggression, but few details have been emerged.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was in Ukraine on Friday to lay out a framework for security guarantees for Ukraine with Zelenskyy.

"The first layer has to be for Ukrainian armed forces to be as strong as possible to defend this proud country and nation going forward," Rutte said, saying that would come after a peace deal or "long-term ceasefire."

He added, "And the second layer has to be the security guarantees provided by Europe and the United States."

Vance reaffirmed Trump's previous comments that there will be no U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine as a part security guarantees.

"The president's been very clear. There are not going to be boots on the ground in Ukraine, but we are going to continue to play an active role in trying to ensure that the Ukrainians have the security guarantees and the confidence they need to stop the war on their end," he said.

Asked about comments Putin made in June, saying, "I consider the Russian and Ukrainian people to be one nation. In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours," and whether Ukraine has a right to exist, Lavrov replied, "Ukraine has the right to exist, provided it must let people go."

"The people whom they call 'terrorists,' who they call species and who during a referenda – several referenda in Novorossiya, in Donbas, in Crimea decided that they belong to the Russian culture and the government which came to power as a result of the coup was determined as a priority to exterminate everything Russian," Lavrov said.

Zelenskyy has long opposed surrendering sovereign territory to Russia, saying the nation's constitution forbids it.

Lavrov also pushed back when asked to acknowledge that Russia invaded Ukraine, saying, "Russia started special military operation to defend the people who Zelenskyy and his predecessor did not consider as humans."