US slams Russia: ‘Asking too much’

In another sign that Vladimir Putin is testing Donald Trump’s patience, the US vice president has rubbished Moscow’s initial Ukraine peace plan.

The White House has again berated Russia for its lack of movement when it comes to its lack of action on peace in Ukraine.

On Wednesday, US time, Vice President JD Vance said Russia was “asking for too much” in negotiations to end the conflict.

It signals a remarkable turnaround in Washington’s relations with Kyiv after President Volodomyr Zelensky was practically marched out of the Oval Office following his spat with Mr Trump and Mr Vance just months ago.

The remarks came just hours after former president Joe Biden berate the Trump administration for appearing Vladimir Putin which could lead to the Russian leader wanting even more eland.

Mr Vance made the comments to the Munich Leaders Meeting in Washington DC, a conference on foreign policy and security issues.

US Vice President JD Vance delivers remarks to the Munich Leaders Meeting, hosted by the Munich Security Conference, at the Willard Hotel on May 07, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

‘It’s asking too much’

He was asked about the US strategy on the conflict.

“You don’t have to agree with the Russian justification for the war to try to understand where the other side is coming from to end the conflict,” Mr Vance said.

“President Trump has been very deliberate about actually forcing the Russians to say, ‘Here is what we would like in order to end the conflict’.

“And certainly, the first peace offer that the Russians put on the table, our reaction to it was, ‘You’re asking for too much’

“But this is how negotiations unfold.”

That peace plan was said to have put onerous conditions on Ukraine including international recognition of Russia’s claimed legal right to Ukraine’s Crimea region which Kyiv baulked at.

Mr Vance said he was “not yet pessimistic” about a peace deal and “I wouldn’t say that the Russians are uninterested in bringing this thing to a resolution”.

“The big step that we would like to make right now is the Russians and the Ukrainians to agree on some basic guidelines for sitting down and talking to one another.

“There’s a big gulf between where the Russians and the Ukrainians are and we think the next step in the negotiation is to try to close that gulf.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with his Mongolian counterpart at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 7, 2025. (Photo by YURI KOCHETKOV / POOL / AFP)

‘30 day ceasefire obsession’

Putin has said that Russia will go ahead with a three day ceasefire to coincide with its Second World War victory celebrations on May 9.

But Ukraine has said it wants Russia to agree to a 30 day ceasefire that was originally pushed by the US on both parties.

Likely to Kyiv’s chagrin, Mr Vance appeared to shrug that off, noting Moscow’s intransigence.

“We’ve tried to move beyond the obsession with the 30-day ceasefire and more on the, ‘What would the long-term settlement look like?’”

Relations between Kyiv and Washington remain circumspect. But in the last month, they appear to have improved. Particularly since President Zelensky and President Trump met on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral.

Ukraine has been enthusiastic in pushing for initiatives to end the war which has successfully highlighted Russia’s lack of movement or unrealistic demands.

Meanwhile, Kyiv has also signed the much vaunted minerals deal with the US.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and President Donald Trump, talk as they attend the funeral of Pope Francis in Vatican City, April 26, 2025.(Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP, File)

Biden says Trump appeasing Putin

On Wednesday, former US President Joe Biden gave his most expansive interview since leaving office to the radio arm of UK broadcaster the BBC.

Mr Biden accused the Trump White House of the “modern-day appeasement” of Vladimir Putin.

“Listen to what Putin said when he talked about going from Kyiv into Ukraine, and why.

“He believes its part of Mother Russia. He believes [he has] a historical right to Ukraine.

“He can’t stand the fact that the Russian dictatorship that he runs, that the Soviet Union has collapsed.

“And anybody that thinks he’s gonna stop is just foolish.”

Mr Biden brought up the suggestion Russia’s right to Crimea should be recognised.

“I just don’t understand how people think that if we allow a dictator, a thug, to decide he’s going to take significant portions of land that aren’t his, that that’s going to satisfy him”.

Mr Biden also condemned Trump’s expansionist rhetoric, in which the current president has mused about taking over Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal.

“What the hell’s going on here? What president ever talks like that? That’s not who we are,” the former president said. “We’re about freedom, democracy, opportunity, not about confiscation.”

- with the New York Post.

Originally published as US slams Russia: ‘Asking too much’