'Absurd': US Vice President Vance rejects Zelenskyy's accusation of justifying Russia’s war

"I think it’s sort of absurd for Zelenskyy to tell the [American] government, which is currently keeping his entire government and war effort together, that we are somehow on the side of the Russians," Vance said during a phone conversation with British news outlet UnHerd.

"That kind of rhetoric is certainly not productive."

Zelenskyy, in an interview with CBS' 60 Minutes program aired on Sunday, accused Vance of "somehow justifying" Moscow’s actions.

The Ukrainian leader said Russian narratives about the war appear to have taken hold in Washington.

“It seems to me that the vice president is somehow justifying [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s actions. I tried to explain, ‘You can’t look for something in the middle. There is an aggressor and there is a victim. The Russians are the aggressor, and we are the victim,’” he added.

Vance rejected the charge, emphasizing his longstanding condemnation of Russia’s war, which began in 2022, stressing the importance of understanding both the strategic objectives of both sides.

"That doesn’t mean you morally support the Russian cause, or that you support the full-scale invasion," he said.

"But you do have to try to understand what are their strategic red lines, in the same way that you have to try to understand what the Ukrainians are trying to get out of the conflict."

US President Donald Trump, who has engaged both Moscow and Kyiv for settlement, on Monday said he believes there will be "some very good proposals very soon" to end the conflict.

'Not good for Europe'

Vance also used the interview to underscore his administration’s demand that Europe shoulder more of its own defense burden.

"It’s not good for Europe to be the permanent security vassal of the US," he said, warning that decades of underinvestment have left many European nations unable to defend themselves without American backing.

He pointed to the UK, France, and Poland as "exceptions that prove the rule."

The vice president voiced frustration over what he described as a disconnect between European leaders and their citizens on core issues like migration and economic policy.

"The entire democratic project of the West falls apart when the people keep on asking for less migration, and they keep on being rewarded by their leaders with more migration," he said.

Vance, however, confirmed that the UK is now "at the front of the queue" for a long-sought trade deal with Washington -- despite ongoing tensions stirred by President Donald Trump’s recent "reciprocal" tariff moves.