CONNECTICUT: US Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday Russia has made “significant concessions” towards a negotiated settlement in its war with Ukraine, claiming Moscow now recognises it cannot install a puppet regime in Kyiv and that Ukraine will receive security guarantees against future aggression.

Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press with Kristen Welker on Sunday, Mr Vance said Vladimir Putin had shifted position for “the first time in three and a half years of this conflict”.

“They’ve recognised that they’re not going to be able to install a puppet regime in Kyiv,” he said. “And importantly, they’ve acknowledged that there is going to be some security guarantee to the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

The remarks came as Rus­sia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told the same programme that Putin and Donald Trump had discussed security guarantees for Ukraine and that Russian president had raised the failed Istanbul talks of 2022.

Lavrov outlines security-guarantee plan, says Ukraine’s Nato membership is unacceptable

At those talks, Russia and Ukraine discussed a deal on Ukraine’s permanent neutrality in return for security guarantees from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — along with other countries, according to a draft agreement seen by Reuters in 2022.

Mr Lavrov said a group including security council members should guarantee Ukraine’s security and suggested Germany, Turkey and other nations could join.

“The guarantors would be guaranteeing the security of Ukraine, which must be neutral, which must be non-aligned with any military bloc and which must be non-nuclear,” he said, according to a foreign ministry transcript.

He reiterated that Nato membership for Ukraine remained unacceptable for Russia, and said Moscow wanted protections for Russian speakers and that there was a territorial “discussion” to be had.

Reuters reported last week, citing three sources familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking, that Putin is demanding Ukraine give up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce its ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral and keep western troops out of the country.

On Friday, Trump renewed a threat to impose sanctions on Russia if there was no progress towards a peaceful settlement within two weeks, showing frustration with Moscow a week after his meeting with Putin in Alaska.

Mr Vance said any sanctions would be considered case by case but acknowledged fresh penalties were unlikely to force a ceasefire.

He pointed to Trump’s announcement this month of an additional 25pc tariff on Indian goods, in response to New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, as the kind of economic leverage the White House intended to use.

“He’s tried to make it clear that Russia can be re-invited into the world economy if they stop the killing,” Mr Vance said. “But they’re going to continue to be isolated if they don’t.”

Canadian PM in Kyiv

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, arrived in Kyiv on Sunday, coinciding with Ukraine’s independence day.

“On this Ukrainian Independence Day, and at this critical moment in their nation’s history, Canada is stepping up our support and our efforts towards a just and lasting peace for Ukraine,” Mr Carney wrote on X.

Ukrainian President Volod­ymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak welcomed the visit: “On this special day — Ukraine’s Independence Day — it is especially important for us to feel the support of our friends. And Canada has always stood by us,” he posted on Telegram.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2025