U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Russia has offered its most substantial concessions since the invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, including acceptance of security guarantees for Kyiv and acknowledgment that Moscow will not be able to install a pro-Russian government. Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Vance described the concessions as a break-through after three and a half years of war and credited President Donald Trump’s economic pressure for shifting the talks. Vance pointed to the administration’s recent 25% tariff on Indian imports—imposed in response to New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil—as an example of “aggressive economic leverage” intended to steer Moscow toward a settlement. He added that Washington still has “a lot of cards left to play,” including case-by-case sanctions, if no progress is made within two weeks. Diplomatic sources told Reuters that Russia continues to seek Ukrainian neutrality, a ban on Western troops, and control of the eastern Donbas region. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a separate interview aired Sunday, said any eventual pact should be guaranteed by a group that includes United Nations Security Council members. Despite the absence of a formal cease-fire, Vance said he is confident negotiations are moving forward and that re-integration into the global economy remains Moscow’s incentive to halt hostilities that have caused tens of thousands of casualties across Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.