US Vice President JD Vance has denied disrespecting France and the UK by describing a planned peacekeeping force in Ukraine as 20,000 troops from some “random country that has not fought a war in 30 or 40 years”.
Vance‘s comments on Fox News on March 3 about the planned French-led and British European peacekeeping force caused politicians and veterans in both countries to say he was dishonouring hundreds of troops killed fighting alongside US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The next day, Vance said it was “absurdly dishonest” to suggest he had criticised British or French troops in his comments he previous day.
“I don’t even mention the UK or France in the clip, both of whom have fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond,” he said on X on March 4.
Shortly after his apparent climb down, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X that his country was ready to sign US President Donald Trump’s requested minerals deal and called his explosive Oval Office meeting with him on February 28, which descended into a slanging match, as “regrettable”.
In relation to Vance’s latest remarks, only Britain and France have publicly committed to a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine.
The Vice President said in his comments he had been referring to other potential countries in what UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called on March 2 “a coalition of the willing” that would contribute to any post-war peacekeeping force in Ukraine.
In the past 40 years, British and French troops have fought alongside US troops in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
French defence minister Sebastien Lecornu said in parliament: “We respect the veterans of all the allied countries. We will make sure that our own veterans are respected.”
French President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party said on X: “The French and British soldiers who died fighting terrorism, who fought and sometimes died alongside American soldiers, deserve better than the disdain of the American Vice President.”
James Cartlidge, the British opposition Conservative Party’s spokesman on defence, called Vance‘s comments “deeply disrespectful”.
Johnny Mercer, a British veteran and a former junior defence minister, called Vance a “clown”.
Nigel Farage, the leader of the British right-wing populist Reform party and a friend of US President Donald Trump, said: “Wrong, wrong, wrong” when asked about Vance‘s comments.
Taylor Van Kirk, a spokesperson for Vance, said after the criticism of the Vice President that no country in Europe had the military resources to meaningfully deter Russia without US assistance.
“Many of these countries have served valiantly in support of American and NATO missions in the past, but it’s dishonest to pretend those contributions amount to anything comparable to the mobilisation that a hypothetical European army would need,” she said.
Vance had told Fox News that the best way to ensure peace in Ukraine was to open up Ukraine’s minerals to the US.
“If you want to actually ensure that [Russian President] Vladimir Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine,” he said.
“That is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.”
Regarding the minerals deal with the US, Zelensky said in his post late on March 4: “Our meeting in Washington, at the White House … did not go the way it was supposed to be.”
“Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer.”
It was unclear if the terms of the deal had changed. It was to due be signed on February 28 and included no explicit security guarantees for Ukraine but gave the US access to revenues from Ukraine’s natural resources.
It also envisaged the Ukrainian Government contributing 50 per cent of future monetisation of any State-owned natural resources to a US-Ukraine managed reconstruction investment fund.
On March 3, Trump signalled that his administration remained open to signing the deal, telling reporters that Ukraine “should be more appreciative”.
“This country has stuck with them through thick and thin,” Trump said.
“We’ve given them much more than Europe and Europe should have given more than us.”
