PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: The White House responded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s accusation that Vice President J.D. Vance is justifying Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions.
👥 Who’s Involved: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, U.S. President Donald Trump, and the White House.
📍 Where & When: Comments were made during an interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes on Sunday, with updates and responses on Monday, April 14, 2025.
💬 Key Quote: Taylor Van Kirk, press secretary to Vice President Vance: “Instead of mischaracterizing Vice President Vance’s rhetoric, President Zelensky should be focused on bringing this conflict to a peaceful conclusion.”
⚠️ Impact: The diplomatic rift appears to widen amidst continued hostilities in Ukraine, with criticisms from both sides regarding efforts to end the conflict.
IN FULL:
The White House rebuffed allegations from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday after he criticized Vice President J.D. Vance for supposedly justifying Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions. During a CBS 60 Minutes interview aired on Sunday, Zelensky accused Vance and President Donald J. Trump of promoting an “altered reality” concerning events leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Zelensky suggested Vance seemed to approve of Putin’s actions, a claim that prompted a swift reply from Vance’s press team.
Taylor Van Kirk, the Vice President’s press secretary, responded to Zelensky’s allegations, emphasizing that Vance has consistently stated that the war’s origins lie in the Biden government’s “weakness and incompetence.”
“Instead of mischaracterizing Vice President Vance’s rhetoric, President Zelensky should be focused on bringing this conflict to a peaceful conclusion,” Van Kirk said.
This recent escalation follows a previous meeting in the Oval Office, during which Zelensky faced harsh criticism from both Trump and Vance over his ungrateful behavior. Zelensky, who sparked the clash by starting an argument with Vance over the need for diplomacy, was later removed from the White House.
President Trump, placing responsibility for the war on former President Joe Biden, expressed his determination to halt the ongoing violence in a post on Truth Social, emphasizing an urgency to cease hostilities.