December 22, 2025 - 4:00pm
Ukraine will likely lose Donetsk, US Vice President JD Vance has claimed.
In an exclusive interview with UnHerd’s Sohrab Ahmari, Vance said that “the Russians really want territorial control of Donetsk” while leaders in Kyiv “privately acknowledge that, eventually, they’ll probably lose” the region. According to the Vice President, “it could be 12 months from now, it could be longer than that. So that territorial concession is a significant hold-up in the negotiations.” Russia currently holds over 80% of Donetsk, and Vladimir Putin has insisted that his troops will take the entirety of the region by force unless Ukraine withdraws.
The White House has hailed “productive” recent talks in Florida to end the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. In the new UnHerd interview, Vance claimed that a “breakthrough” has been made now “that all the issues are actually out in the open”. He suggested that “the Ukrainians are understandably very focused on” the “question about reconstruction” after the war’s conclusion, adding that both parties have “participated, at least in the last few months, in the negotiations in good faith”.
During the interview, Vance also said he disagreed with Pope Leo XIV’s assessment that President Donald Trump is trying to “break apart” the alliance between the United States and Europe over the Ukraine war. While acknowledging that the Vatican is “a diplomatic force for good”, Vance labelled the Pope’s intervention “a particularly Eurocentric view of these negotiations”. He insisted: “We’re not trying to destroy the European alliance, we’re not trying to divide Europeans against one another. What we’re actually trying to do vis-à-vis Europe is to encourage them to be a little bit more self-sustaining.”
The Vice President has frequently criticised Europe throughout his term, most notably in his speech at this year’s Munich Security Conference. During that speech, Vance said that the continent’s greatest threat was not from Russia or China but “from within”, pointing to “the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values”. He told UnHerd that “Europe doesn’t have a very good sense of itself right now, and you see that reflected in various measures of economic and cultural stagnation.”
Vance nevertheless stressed the importance of maintaining ties with Europe, highlighting “this sense of history and shared cultural values”. But he also warned about the presence of “Islamist-aligned or Islamist-adjacent people who hold office in European countries right now”, and the impact this could have on America’s national security should such politicians wield influence over nuclear policy.
The recent “breakthrough” in Ukraine negotiations has come following what Vance referred to as “a little bit of a game of obfuscation, of hiding behind fake issues, not actually revealing your hand”. As talks progress, the VP promised to “try to get this thing solved”. He added: “We’ve made progress, but sitting here today, I wouldn’t say with confidence that we’re going to get to a peaceful resolution. I think there’s a good chance we will, I think there’s a good chance we won’t.”
Read the full interview transcript here.
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
Subscribe