JD Vance’s cousin speaks out about Russia and possible ceasefire: “It’s a chance to regroup, build up and modernize”

Vice President JD Vance’s cousin, Nate Vance, is a former U.S. Marine who volunteered to fight on the frontlines in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in 2022. In a recent interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett, he criticized his cousin JD as well as President Donald Trump for their stance on the conflict and their opposition to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Just because I’m related to you doesn’t mean I’m going to stand by and watch you get my comrades killed,” Nate Vance said. “When JD justifies his distrust of Zelensky by the ‘reports’ he has seen, I thought I was going to choke.”

Nate Vance calls JD Vance and Donald Trump “useful idiots”

He started the interview by talking about his unique perspective and spoke on what it’s like to “deal with Russia.”

“There are certainly cultural differences both between the Ukrainians and Americans and the Russians,” said Nate Vance. “And I think if you try to deal with Russia through an American lens, it will come back to bite you. They don’t necessarily think like we think. And I’m talking about their political class. I’ve personally witnessed them shooting their own troops on enough occasions that it wasn’t just an, you know, an isolated incident."

“It’s happened quite a bit, enough to the point where you could consider it to be policy if troops are retreating,” he went on. "So these people, as a policy, will eat their own. So they will not hesitate to eat an American president or an American vice president. They don’t care what we think. They’re not our allies, and they never will be. Not at least for a generation.”

During JD Vance’s run for Senate, he said he doesn’t “really care what happens to Ukraine” and when he and Trump met with Zelensky in the Oval Office recently, tensions were high. Trump and Vance both criticized the Ukrainian president for not being grateful enough to the American Republican administration. Nate criticized his cousin and Trump’s calls for a quick ceasefire and called them Vladimir Putin’s “useful idiots” who underestimate the complexities of the conflict.

“But their [Russia’s] view is they’re not done,” said Nate Vance. “So to them, it’s just a chance to regroup, build up and modernize, and they’ll come back. And when they do come back, they’ll be more of a problem than they are now.”

On Tuesday, Ukrainian and American officials met in Saudi Arabia and Ukraine agreed to the proposal of a 30-day cease fire. Trump’s administration agreed to resume intelligence sharing.

JD Vance brushed off his cousin’s criticism

JD Vance responded to his cousin’s criticism and said that he’d never spoken publicly about him because he did not wish to endanger him.

“As far as his criticisms, I have no interest in arguing with him in public, but I do feel the need to address one issue in particular: his failed effort to contact me," said JD Vance.

In the interview, Burnett mentioned that Nate had tried to get in contact with JD to no avail, but JD said he received his messages, to which Nate later said he did not know.

“I always considered Nate the toughest guy I knew, and no matter what he says about me, my affection for him remains,” said JD. “I’m always happy to talk to him.”

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