During an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Aug. 20, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance continued walking back any strong commitment the U.S. will make to security guarantees in Ukraine. “I don’t think we should carry the burden here.... No matter what form this takes, the Europeans are going to have to take the lion’s share of the burden. It’s their continent, it’s their security, and the President has been very clear—they are going to have to step up here,” Vance told Ingraham.
In the remainder of his comments, however, Vance showed his ignorance of the overall situation with regard to Russia and Ukraine. He attempted to boil down the issues at play by saying it’s all about territory and security guarantees. “There really are two big questions lingering out there, and in some ways it’s very simple, but in some ways it’s very complicated,” Vance said, reported Bloomberg. “Number one is, Ukraine wants to know that it’s not going to get invaded again by Russia. It wants to know that it’s got territorial integrity long into the future. The Russians want certain pieces of territory, most of which they’ve occupied, but some of which they haven’t,” the Vice President said.
