Still 'A Very High Mountain Ahead' To Achieve Ukraine Peace: Vance

It has been a long, long time since this much optimism has persisted when it comes to the chances of achieving a Russia-Ukraine peace deal.

There are reports that trilateral talks involving Russia, Ukraine, and the US will finally soon happen in the wake of Steve Witkoff's meeting with President Putin this week. A high level meeting is reportedly being scheduled for as early as next month; however, some top White House officials are also injecting some key caveats and realism.

Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that Russia and Ukraine are still too far apart to reach a peace agreement, despite at least tentatively seeing eye to eye on resuming US-backed negotiations.

In a fresh interview with Forbes, Vance said."I think both countries have agreed to come to the negotiating table. The reason we have not yet reached a peace agreement is that they are simply too far apart on the details of those negotiations."

He praised Witkoff for his efforts at getting the warring sides back to the negotiating bale: "He is optimistic. The nature of these things is that you make an attempt, see how far you can get, and then come back to it again. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't," the Vice President continued.

Vance further stated:

"We are trying to do difficult things, knowing we have a very high mountain ahead of us. We are trying anyway."

Putin aide Yuri Ushakov announced in the middle of this week that Moscow has agreed to resume trilateral talks with Ukraine and the United States in November.

President Putin has meanwhile not changed his tune, emphasizing in fresh media remarks that the goals of the 'special military operation' will be achieved with or without a deal...

Putin on Ukraine: I think that we can reach an agreement. We agree with that. But if someone wants otherwise, fine, it will be otherwise. But in any case, we will accomplish our tasks, and all the goals of the "special military operation" will be achieved. https://t.co/qjXsjocMNf

— Clash Report (@clashreport) October 22, 2026

The Kremlin on Wednesday still hailed that there have been significant changes in Washington's posture in Ukraine, with Ushakov having noted that these changes caused Moscow's stance to in turn be "re-evaluated, taking into account the signals received from the Americans."