JD Vance talks about 'the bad guys' in Ukraine war - but doesn't say which side he means

JD Vance said ending the war in Ukraine is possible because the "bad guys" fear the US military - but didn't say who the bad guys were.

He made the remarks in a speech to US personnel stationed at RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire - before giving out McDonalds cheeseburgers to the troops. Vance's speech came just minutes after he took part in a conference call with Donald Trump, Keir Starmer and European leaders about the conflict in Ukraine.

He said: "The President of the United States came in six months ago and I just talked to him right before I came on the stage. And he said very simply that we are going to make it our mission as an administration to bring peace to Europe once again. But as you all know it is impossible to bring peace anywhere unless the bad guys are also worried that you've got a helluva fine Air Force and a helluva fine military to back up the peace to begin with." It comes after NATO scrambled warplanes as Russia shoots down West's F-16 fighter jet in Ukraine onslaught.

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In March (2025) Vance defended Steve Witkoff, Trump's envoy in Russia and Ukraine, after he said Putin was not "a bad guy". "Steve Witkoff is a great guy doing an incredible job," Vance wrote on social media after the gaffe. The people sniping at him are mad that he is succeeding where they failed for 40 years."

Vance gave his speech standing in front of a Lockheed U-2 spy plane, of the type currently being used for recon missions over Russia and Ukraine. Vance is visiting the UK for a family holiday, though he spent the first few days of his trip with Foreign Secretary David Lammy at Chevening.

He's understood to have met with Nigel Farage and Robert Jenrick during the visit, but not with Kemi Badenoch - blaming a scheduling conflict.

Mr Vance met Foreign Secretary David Lammy earlier on Wednesday, where he said they “worked on one of our most important shared security goals in Europe, which is the end of the war between Russia and Ukraine”.

The vice president has previously criticised Europe over its defence funding, with leaked messages from a US Signal group chat showing Mr Vance saying he hated “bailing Europe out”. He also criticised the UK in February, over a legal case in which a former serviceman who silently prayed outside an abortion clinic was convicted of breaching the safe zone around the centre.

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