Vance says Zelenskyy 'absurd' to suggest US is on side of Russia US vice president JD Vance has again criticised Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying it's "absurd" for the Ukrainian leader to suggest the US is "somehow on the side of the Russians". It followed Zelenskyy talking about the "altered reality" being presented to him, a reference to the disastrous meeting in the White House and the misinformation swirling that Ukraine somehow started the war - with Donald Trump saying Joe Biden, Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin were all to blame for the war yesterday. 'You have to try to understand' Vance, who has taken a combative approach to Ukraine and Europe since he became VP, said he had condemned Russia since 2022 but had since tried to understand the strategic objectives of both sides to find a solution. "That doesn't mean you morally support the Russian cause, or that you support the full-scale invasion, 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," he said. "I think it's sort of absurd for Zelenskyy to tell the government, which is currently keeping his entire government and war effort together, that we are somehow on the side of the Russians." He said that kind of rhetoric was "certainly not productive". For context: The US has given billions of dollars of aid to Ukraine in terms of military equipment and financial aid, but Europe as a whole has donated more. It's also worth noting that much of the US's funding to Ukraine is spent at home, in America's defence industries.