‘Some random country’: Vance appears to insult UK and France with jibe on Ukraine security

US vice-president JD Vance appeared to insult the UK and France with a jibe over Ukraine’s security during an interview with Fox News. Vance said a minerals deal with the US, giving America an economic stake in Ukraine, would provide ‘a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years’. Even if he was not referring explicitly to Britain, he was seemingly questioning the value of the European-led force that would keep the peace on the ground in Ukraine under plans championed by Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer. Vance has since denied that the comments were about either country

UK MPs condemn ‘deeply disrespectful’ JD Vance comments