US vice-president JD Vance has warned that Donald Trump is “growing incredibly impatient” with Moscow amid stalled efforts to resolve the Ukraine war. Trump “doesn’t feel like they’re putting enough on the table to end the war”, Vance said in North Carolina. “If the Russians refuse to negotiate in good faith, I think it’s going to be very, very bad for their country. That’s what the president made clear.” In a meeting earlier on Wednesday in New York, US secretary of state Marco Rubio apparently clashed with his Russian counterpart, calling for the “killing to stop” and demanding Moscow “take meaningful steps toward a durable resolution”.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov fired back and “stressed the unacceptability of the schemes promoted by Kyiv and some European capitals aimed at prolonging the conflict”, according to a readout of their conversation supplied by the Russian side. Trump unexpectedly suggested at the UN on Tuesday after meeting Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine could not only retake all of the territory it lost to Russia militarily since the 2022 Russian invasion but take even more.
The Ukrainian president praised Trump following the surprise pivot but cautioned that Nato alone could not underwrite his country’s security. “Because international institutions are too weak, this madness continues,” Zelenskyy told the general assembly. “Even being part of the longstanding military alliance doesn’t automatically mean you are safe.” He said he had a “good meeting” with Trump. “Of course we are doing everything to make sure Europe truly helps and of course we count on the United States.”
