Vance and Zelensky polar opposites? Analyzing what's wrong with the Redaktsiya's take on the Munich talks

During the 61st Security Conference, held from February 14 to 16, 2025, in Munich, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russian journalist Alexey Pivovarov, commenting on the event in the February 16 news segment on the YouTube channel Redaktsiya, stated that the Ukrainian side chose to remain silent after the talks, unlike its American counterpart.

"After the meeting with J.D. Vance, which also included U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's special envoy Keith Kellogg, Zelensky and the head of his office, Andriy Yermak, quickly left, declining to speak with journalists. In contrast, the U.S. Vice President was in a rather talkative mood," the journalist reported. A video clip was shown to back up these statements, featuring J.D. Vance responding "of course" to a question from the crowd as he walked past journalists: "Mr. Vance, are you willing to come to Russia for peace talks on Ukraine?"

The meeting between the politicians was originally scheduled for the morning but took place in the evening, after 5:00 PM. The Telegram channel RBC-Ukraine reported that the meeting began at 5:30 PM and provided an update on its outcomes at 6:40 PM. After the talks, J.D. Vance and Volodymyr Zelensky made a joint statement and both declined to answer questions from journalists.

The footage of the U.S. Vice President's brief response, shown in the Redaktsiya news segment, was filmed before the talks, not after them. The same video was found by the WTF team on the Russian newspaper Izvestia's website. It was published at 4:40 PM Moscow time, or 2:40 PM Munich time. The video clearly shows the conversation taking place during daylight hours.