US Vice President JD Vance, who has taken a combative approach to Europe since he became vice president in January, reiterated his stance that he wanted Europe as a whole to increase its security spending, and once again criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Vance, responding to Zelensky's recent comments that he had somehow justified Russia's invasion of Ukraine, said he had condemned Russia since 2022 but had since tried to understand the strategic objectives of both sides to find a solution.
"That doesn't mean you morally support the Russian cause, or that you support the full-scale invasion, but you do have to try to understand what are their strategic red lines, in the same way that you have to try to understand what the Ukrainians are trying to get out of the conflict," he said.
"I think it's sort of absurd for Zelensky to tell the [American] government, which is currently keeping his entire government and war effort together, that we are somehow on the side of the Russians." Vance said that kind of rhetoric was "certainly not productive."