US is ‘done with funding Ukraine war’, says Vance

Vice-president urges European leaders to take a bigger role

- TARA COBHAM

US vice-president JD Vance says Europe must spend more on Ukraine as he warned that America is “done with the funding of the war”.

He also vowed that Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky will be forced to meet by Donald Trump.

Mr Vance, in a wide-ranging interview on Fox News, went on to dismiss European leaders’ calls to allow the Ukrainian president to attend the upcoming summit between the US and Russian leaders, insisting that it would not be “productive” at this point.

On Saturday, European leaders including Sir Keir Starmer jointly welcomed the meeting, which is planned for Friday in Alaska. However, they warned that any talks should see Ukraine represented and not permit any land to be ceded to Russia.

Their statement came after Mr Trump admitted the deal may involve “some swapping of territories” - a suggestion Mr Zelensky strongly rejected.

Mr Vance told Fox News that Mr Trump “has to be the one to bring these two together”, before criticising Europe for not “stepping up”.

He said: “What we said to the Europeans is simply: this is in your neck of the woods, this is in your back door. You guys have gotta step up and take a bigger role in this thing. And if you care so much about this conflict, you should be willing to play a more direct and substantial way in funding this war yourself.