Vance, Bessent to meet with Zelensky amid Trump's push to end the war in Ukraine

Vice President Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky amid the administration’s push for the war with Russia to end.

Vance will meet with Zelensky on Friday while the two leaders are in Munich, according to a person familiar with his plans. The timing of Bessent's trip is unclear.

“I am sending Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent to Ukraine to meet President Zelensky. This War MUST and WILL END SOON — Too much Death and Destruction. The U.S. has spent BILLIONS of Dollars Globally, with little to show. WHEN AMERICA IS STRONG, THE WORLD IS AT PEACE,” Trump said Tuesday on Truth Social.

Trump recently said he has had talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war, telling the New York Post in an interview they have spoken, and he’d “better not say” how many times.

He also told Fox News’s Bret Baier in an interview that aired Monday that Ukraine “may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday,” comments that gained attention from the Kremlin, ABC reported. And he has floated that he will “probably” speak with Zelensky, although he has no plans to travel to Kyiv.

He vowed during the 2024 campaign to end the war in Ukraine, insisting that Russia would not have invaded the country if he were president.

In the days after he was sworn in, he said there are ongoing discussions about ending the war in Ukraine, as his administration had been seeking to pressure Putin into coming to the negotiating table. He has threatened increased sanctions on Russia and its enablers if a deal is not quickly reached.

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