Vice President of the United States Vance: Both sides of Ukraine and Russia have to make concessions on their territories, and if they still disagree, the United States will withdraw from mediation.

[Text/Observer Network Xiong Chaoyi] Local time on April 23, US Vice President Vance said that in order to reach a peace agreement, the United States had put forward "very clear proposals" to Russia and Ukraine. He added, "Now it's time for them to either agree or the United States withdraws from this (mediation) process."

According to Bloomberg's report on the same day, Vance made these remarks to reporters during his visit to India, just after visiting the Taj Mahal. "I think the new boundary line after the final conflict will be drawn near the existing boundary line," he added, meaning that both Russia and Ukraine must give up parts of the territory currently under their control.

"Some territorial exchanges must take place," Vance said, although the final border may not be exactly according to the current frontline, but in order to end the killing, both sides need to lay down arms, freeze the conflict, and start building a better Russia and Ukraine.

As for the negotiations, Vance said he was "optimistic" and added that he believed so far all parties were negotiating in good faith.

Vance interviewed by British Sky News video screenshot

Previously, local time on April 18, US Secretary of State Rubio, while concluding his visit to Paris, France, said that if there were no signs of a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine in the near future, US President Trump would abandon the continued efforts to mediate this agreement.

"We won't continue this work for weeks or months. So we now need to determine as soon as possible - I mean within days - whether there is a possibility of reaching an agreement in the coming weeks. If so, we will continue. If not, we have other priorities to focus on," Rubio said.

In addition, US Middle East Envoy Steven Witkowski will visit Russia later this week. This will be his fourth visit to Russia as envoy, and he has met with Russian President Putin three times before. He described the latest talks as "highly persuasive".

During the election campaign, Trump once said he would end the Russia-Ukraine issue within 24 hours of moving into the White House. But as obstacles increased, he softened this statement after taking office, hinting that an agreement could be reached in April or May. On March 18 and 19 local time, Trump spoke separately with Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Zelensky. In both conversations, both parties agreed to cease fire at energy facilities and expand the ceasefire to the Black Sea for technical negotiations, which they considered the "first step" toward a comprehensive resolution of the Ukraine crisis, but the details of the various statements differed.

Regarding Trump's 30-day ceasefire initiative, Russia then proposed a series of demands, including effective control over the ceasefire along the entire frontline between Russia and Ukraine, stopping forced mobilization within Ukraine, and rearming the Ukrainian military forces, but these were rejected by Ukraine. On March 30, Trump told the media that he was "very angry" with Putin and threatened that if a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine could not be reached due to Russia's reasons, the United States might impose a "secondary tariff" on Russian oil buyers.

According to the New York Post, Trump said in an interview on April 21 that he would release his peace plan on the Russia-Ukraine conflict within the next three days. Western officials revealed that the plan might include sending European troops to Ukraine to enforce the proposed ceasefire agreement, as well as the United States recognizing Crimea as Russian territory.

On April 21 local time, Zelensky revealed that representatives from Ukraine, the UK, France, and the United States would meet in London on April 23 to discuss issues such as a ceasefire. Zelensky emphasized that the primary task of the London meeting was to push for an unconditional ceasefire and stressed that establishing real and lasting peace "must start from here."

However, the US Department of State announced on April 22 local time that US Secretary of State Rubio would not attend the Ukraine-related talks in London on April 23. Instead, US Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg would participate.

According to The New York Times' report on April 22, two European officials said that in last week's Ukraine talks in Paris, the framework of the ceasefire agreement proposed by the US included Ukraine recognizing Crimea as Russian territory and Ukraine not joining NATO. The report said that after Zelensky refused to recognize the occupied territories as belonging to Russia on April 22, Rubio canceled his trip to London.

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7496453296028041765/

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