Vice President JD Vance met with European allies and Ukrainian officials in a day of high -risk diplomatic conversations on Saturday, less than a week before a historical meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The conversations in the United Kingdom arrived only one day after Trump announced the face -to -face meeting with Putin Set for August 15 in Alaska to continue negotiations to end the war that has extended for more than three years.
An American official told ABC News that Saturday’s conversations Vance participated in “produced significant progress towards the objective of President Trump to end the war in Ukraine.”
Vice President JD Vance and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Great Britain, David Lammy, during a meeting at Chevening House in Kent, England, Friday, August 8, 2025.
Kin Cheung/AP
The conversations on Saturday took place on the farm of the United Kingdom Foreign Secretary, Chevening House in Kent, England. Vance met with Foreign Secretary David Lammy, and representatives of Ukraine and other European allies.
The United Kingdom meeting occurred when the next Trump-Poutin summit, which happened without the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the table, has generated concern among Ukrainian officials and throughout Europe.
French president Emmanuel Macron said Saturday morning He had spoken with Zelenskyy and other European leaders and that, “the future of Ukraine cannot be decided without the Ukrainians who have been fighting for their freedom and security for more than three years.”
Speaking from the White House on Friday, Trump suggested that the discussions to end the war could include “some exchange of territories”, that Zelenskyy then quickly rejected, saying that Ukraine “will not give Russia any prize for what he has done” and that “the Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupant.”
Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have also insisted that any negotiation should include Ukraine at the table.
“Our positions were clear: a reliable and lasting peace is only possible with Ukraine at the negotiating table, with full respect for our sovereignty and without recognizing the occupation,” said Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the president of Ukraine, on a Saturday that also thanked JD Vance for participating in the United Kingdom conversations.
President Donald Trump in Washington, on August 6, 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome, July 10, 2025 and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, August 5, 2025.
Reuters/Getty Images/AP
In one direction on Saturday night, Zelenskyy called the conversations on Saturday in the “constructive” United Kingdom and said they came during an “active diplomacy day” between Ukraine and several EU allies.
“All our messages were transmitted,” Zelenskyy said about conversations with Vance. “Our arguments are being heard. The risks are taking into account. The path to peace for Ukraine must be determined together, and only together, with Ukraine. This is fundamental. And it is important that our joint approaches and the shared vision function towards a genuine peace. A consolidated position. A high fire. A end for the occupation. An end of the war.”
Speaking more widely, Zelenskyy said he believes that Trump “has the influence and determination to end the war, and added that” Ukraine has supported all the proposals of President Trump, starting in February. “
On Friday he marked the deadline that Trump established for Putin to accept a high fire with Ukraine or face “secondary sanctions” against countries that buy oil from Russia.
But uncertainty remained on whether the United States would hit Moscow with new economic sanctions, and Trump now agreed to meet with Putin.
The Alaska meeting will be the first Putin meeting with an important Western leader since Russia invaded Ukraine more than three years ago, and his first visit to the United States in 10 years.
