Vance Claims Trump Broke A Major ‘Logjam.’ It’s Unclear If Putin Will Play Along.

Vice President JD Vance claimed that the U.S. is working on setting up a three-way meeting between Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after Trump afforded Putin a major win by agreeing to meet him face-to-face in Alaska with no preconditions.

In an interview with Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” broadcast Sunday, Vance gave Trump credit for moving things along.

“One of the most important logjams is that Vladimir Putin said that he would never sit down with Zelenskyy,” Vance said. “And the president has now got that to change. We’re at a point now where we’re now trying to figure out, frankly, scheduling and things like that, around when these three leaders could sit down and discuss an end to this conflict.”

Trump, however, has secured zero concessions from Putin ahead of their meeting on U.S. soil Friday. The authoritarian leader has so far not agreed to sit down with Zelenskyy, claiming last week that “certain conditions should be created” for such a meeting.

Vance also made clear it wouldn’t be necessary for Putin and Zelenskyy to meet ahead of the Trump-Putin bilateral summit.

“I actually don’t think it would be that productive,” Vance said. “I think fundamentally, the president of the United States has to be the one to kind of bring these two together.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) suggested Zelenskyy should join Trump’s talks with Putin this week.

“You can’t end a war without talking,” Graham told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I do hope that Zelenskyy can be part of the process. I’ll leave that up to the White House.”

Matthew Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, said it was “possible” for that to happen, while Zelenskyy has emphasized the importance of Ukraine having a seat at the table over talks involving its future.

“The path to peace for Ukraine must be determined together with Ukraine – this is fundamental,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, formerly Twitter, over the weekend. “It is important that joint approaches and a shared vision work toward genuine peace. A consolidated position. Ceasefire. End of occupation. End of war.”

Graham asserted that he is certain Trump will work to secure a “good deal” for both sides.

“I have every confidence in the world that the president is going to go to meet Putin from a position of strength, that he’s going to look out for Europe and Ukrainian needs to end this war honorably,” Graham told NBC’s Kristen Welker.