VP Vance Clarifies Remarks on Potential Ukraine Peacekeeping Force Amidst Controversy

US Vice President JD Vance has issued a clarification following criticism of his remarks regarding a potential European peacekeeping force in Ukraine, Al Jazeera reports.

Vance’s initial statement, made during a Fox News Channel interview, drew condemnation and accusations of disparaging the United Kingdom and France.

In the interview, Vance stated that an economic pact with Kyiv, favored by President Trump, “is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.”

Following the broadcast, Vance took to social media platform X to address the controversy. He called it “absurdly dishonest” to suggest his comments were directed at the UK and France, the only two countries to have publicly pledged to a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine as part of broader continental efforts to secure a deal between Moscow and Kyiv.

“I don’t even mention the UK or France in the clip, both of whom have fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond,” Vance stated on X.

The original remarks sparked anger from politicians and veterans in both the UK and France, who felt he was minimizing the sacrifices of troops killed while serving alongside US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Vance went on to express skepticism about the feasibility of a potential “coalition of the willing” to enforce a ceasefire in Ukraine.

“But let’s be direct: there are many countries who are volunteering (privately or publicly) support who have neither the battlefield experience nor the military equipment to do anything meaningful,” he said.

Vance’s criticism comes on the heels of tensions surrounding a visit by Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington, D.C. last week. Although Zelensky was expected to sign a minerals deal with the US, he departed the White House without doing so. Furthermore, President Trump has halted military aid to Kyiv.