CAUTION COUNSELLED
But some cautioned against jumping to conclusions about Vance, who was born into an impoverished home in southern Ohio.
“JD Vance is a devout Christian and the circumstances of his childhood give me great hope that he, like Speaker Mike Johnson, will conclude that US support for Ukraine is the only option,” said Melinda Haring, a senior adviser for Razom for Ukraine, a US-based charitable organisation that advocates for Ukraine.
“While Vance has come out strongly against Ukraine, he hasn’t been in a top job and as vice president I expect to see his views evolve.”
Some diplomats also cautioned that the US election was far from over.
“We need to stop creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Trump hasn’t won and Biden hasn’t lost,” said a French diplomat.
In Ukraine, politicians were wary of criticising Vance openly, as they may have to deal with him as US vice president. But some acknowledged harbouring concerns.
Oleksiy Honcharenko, a lawmaker from the opposition European Solidarity party, said he had met Vance at the Munich conference and found him to be “a very intelligent and cool-headed man”.
“Is there any concern about Vance’s statements? Of course. The US is our biggest and most important ally,” he told Reuters.
“We must remain allies and show the US that Ukraine not only needs help, but can help itself.”
Maryan Zablotskyy, a lawmaker for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party, argued Russia was harming US interests on many fronts. He said any US politician pursuing an America First agenda “will never be positive towards Russia”.
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