U.S. Vice President JD Vance said in an interview aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Russia has offered its first “significant concessions” since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, marking what he called the most substantive movement in three and a half years of negotiations. Vance said the Kremlin has accepted that it will not be able to install a pro-Moscow government in Kyiv and has acknowledged the need for security guarantees protecting Ukraine’s territorial integrity. While a comprehensive cease-fire is still out of reach, the vice president described Russian negotiators as newly flexible on several core demands. The administration is pairing diplomacy with economic pressure. President Donald Trump last week warned Moscow of fresh sanctions unless progress toward peace is evident within two weeks and earlier this month imposed a 25 percent tariff on Indian goods to penalize New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil. Vance said any additional measures would be decided case-by-case. In a separate interview broadcast by NBC, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said a group that includes United Nations Security Council members should act as guarantors of any eventual settlement. The remarks from both capitals come amid a war that has killed tens of thousands and reshaped Europe’s security landscape.