Vice President J.D. Vance stated that Russia appears to have softened its stance on the ongoing Ukraine conflict, offering “significant concessions” to the United State.
Vance Says Russia Softens Stance On Ukraine Conflict
Vance, in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” on Sunday, stated that for the first time in the three and a half years of the conflict, Russia has demonstrated flexibility on some of its core demands.
“They’ve recognized that they’re not going to be able to install a puppet regime in Kyiv…they’ve acknowledged that there is going to be some security guarantee to the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” said Vance.
On the topic of potential sanctions on Russia, Vance confirmed that sanctions were not off the table, but would be considered on a case-by-case basis. When asked about Russian airstrikes on a U.S.-owned electronics factory, Vance expressed his disapproval but emphasized the need to stop the war.
“The president of the United States has a lot of cards left to play to apply pressure to try to bring this conflict to a close,” said Vance on Donald Trump‘s attempts to stop the killings.
Putin-Zelensky Summit Stalled Over Agenda Dispute
This development comes on the heels of stalled peace talks that took place in Washington, as reported by Benzinga on August 22, 2025. The talks, brokered by President Trump, failed to yield any significant breakthroughs, with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy unable to agree to a meeting.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a separate interview on the same program, "Putin is ready to meet with Zelensky, when the agenda would be ready for a summit," Lavrov said in the interview recorded Friday. "And this agenda is not ready at all."
On Friday, Zelensky countered that "the Russians are trying to do anything to avoid the meeting" because "they do not want to end the war" in Ukraine.
Interestingly, this news also coincides with a slight recovery in President Trump’s approval rating among Baby Boomers. The poll showed a rise in Trump’s approval rating from 38% in June to 40% in August, following a significant dip earlier this summer.
Price Action: The Russia-Ukraine war has had a significant impact on the global commodity prices since its full-fledged breakout in 2022, On a year-to-date basis, iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust ETF (NYSE:GSG) and Invesco DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund (NYSE:DBC) climbed 2.64% and 2.27%, respectively.
READ MORE:
Image via Shutterstock
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
