LONDON − A “disgrace.” A “clown” whose “slur” was disrespectful to war heroes. “JD Dunce.”
Those were some of the headlines published by Britain’s tabloid newspapers Wednesday after U.S. Vice President JD Vance said that an American economic deal in Ukraine was a “better security guarantee” for a potential peace deal with Russia “than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.”
Vance made the comments in an interview on Monday night with the Fox News host Sean Hannity after Britain and France pledged troops to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine. Vance has since insisted he did not “even mention the U.K. or France,” adding that both had “fought bravely alongside the U.S. over the last 20 years, and beyond.”
He said it was “absurdly dishonest” to claim he disparaged either country, or its troops.
However, the vice president did not specify which “random” country or countries he was referring to in his interview with Fox News and no other countries have publicly offered to send troops to Ukraine.
His comments sparked a strong reaction in Britain and France, with opposition politicians and veterans in both countries saying he was dishonoring hundreds of troops killed fighting alongside U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“JD Vance is wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong,” said Nigel Farage, the leader of the right-wing Reform U.K., an anti-immigration opposition party. Farage is longtime ally of President Donald Trump.
“We stood by America all through those 20 years putting in exactly the same contribution,” he said.
James Cartlidge, the “shadow” defense secretary for Britain’s opposition Conservative Party, said in a post on social media that Vance’s remarks were “deeply disrespectful” to militaries in Britain and France.
Cartlidge pointed out that NATO’s Article 5, which declares an attack against one member state an attack against them all, had been invoked just once in the alliance’s history: after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
He said Britain and France had, at the time, immediately come to America’s aid, “deploying 1,000s of personnel to Afghanistan, including my own brother & numerous parliamentary colleagues, past and present.”
In Paris, Sébastien Lecornu, France’s defense minister, received applause when he told lawmakers there on Tuesday that while Vance had “fortunately corrected his statement,” the approximately 600 French soldiers who had died while serving their country over the past 60 years or so “deserve our respect and the respect of our allies.”
Michel Goya is a former colonel in the French army. He said in a post on X, addressed to Vance, that “British and French soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan alongside the Americans are giving you s**t from where they are.”
‘Random country’ or a ‘number of countries’
Vance’s comments came as the Trump administration has paused military aid to Ukraine following a heated, and extremely public, spat between Trump, his vice president and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office last week.
In a joint address to Congress on Tuesday, Trump announced Zelenskyy had sent him a letter expressing gratitude for U.S. support in its war with Russia, which began in its current form with Moscow’s invasion three years ago. Zelenskyy said he was willing to sign a deal to allow American access to Ukrainian natural resources as a step toward peace. Trump also said Russia indicated a willingness to negotiate an end to the war, a stance that has drawn skepticism from Ukraine and its European allies.
About 150,000 British military personnel served in Afghanistan over a 20-year period − 457 were killed − before its final troops withdrew in 2021, according to the Royal British Legion, a charity that supports the nation’s armed forces. Britain was also part of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Its forces there peaked at around 46,000. More than 70,000 French soldiers served in Afghanistan, according to France’s defense ministry.
While the Britain and France are the only two nations to publicly commit troops to safeguard any Ukraine peace deal, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said a “number of countries” have also agreed to take part.
He did not name them. Nor have Starmer and France’s President Emmanuel Macron addressed Vance’s “random country” comments, perhaps underlining the diplomatic challenges they face as they try to persuade Washington to provide U.S. military cover for a plan involving European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine.
Both Starmer and Macron, who lead the only two countries in Europe with nuclear weapons, have argued that a U.S. military “backstop” is needed to deter future Russian attacks on Ukraine.
The Trump administration has not committed to it.
Britain, France and other non-U.S. NATO countries have, under pressure from Trump, vowed to increase their defense budgets. Their militaries currently lack what a recent report by the London-based think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies called “critical enablers” such as intelligence and surveillance capabilities, and air-to-air refueling. On Wednesday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the U.S. has paused some intelligence support to Ukraine following the clash in the Oval Office.
Kemi Badenoch, the leader of Britain’s Conservatives, said Vance did not call Britain a “random country.” She said “people are getting carried away. They’re saying loads of things. Getting quite animated. Let’s keep cool heads.”