Vice President JD Vance has responded to his cousin Nate Vance’s public criticism of his treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Nate Vance went on CNN to express his concerns, showcasing family photos of himself and the vice president from their childhood. He specifically criticized JD Vance for his actions during the Ukraine war and his conduct in a meeting with Zelensky.

In an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, Nate Vance stated, “Donald Trump and my cousin clearly believe they can placate Vladimir Putin. They are wrong. The Russians will not forget our support for Ukraine. We are Vladimir Putin’s useful idiots.”

Nate Vance’s father is the brother of JD Vance’s mother. Both served in the Marines. 

Nate Vance said he tried to contact JD’s senate office to talk to his cousin about Ukraine, but failed to reach him.

JD Vance was gracious in his response to his cousin but disputed that Nate had tried to contact him.

‘I always considered Nate the toughest guy I knew, and no matter what he says about me, my affection for him remains. I’m always happy to talk to him,’ JD Vance said in a statement to DailyMail.com. 

The Vice President expressed confusion why Nate did not try to reach him directly through members of the family.

‘I am unsure why Nate felt the need to reach out to my senate office, rather than to his mom, dad, or sister, all of whom I am in contact with regularly,’ he said.

JD Vance said he purposefully did not reveal that his cousin was fighting in Ukraine to protect him.

‘I love my cousin Nate, and never spoke publicly about his service in Ukraine because I didn’t want to endanger his life more than it already was.’

On CNN, Nate Vance warned that Putin and the Russians would ‘eat’ Trump and JD Vance.

‘They will not hesitate to eat an American president or an American vice president. They don’t care what we think,’ he said. ‘They’re not our allies, and they never will be, not at least for a generation.’ 

It’s not the first time Nate Vance has gone public to criticize his cousin.

In January, Nate Vance spoke about his time in Ukraine in an interview with The Real Jim Morris Show.

‘Looking back on it, I’m an idiot, right? Like, my plan was pretty much ‘f**k it’ I’ll figure it out when I get there,’ he said.

 Nate Vance said he volunteered to fight with Ukraine to learn what was really going on. 

‘Anybody who says that adventure is not part of it kind of lying, you’re not being completely honest,’ he said.

Nate said he returned to the United States because he did not want his presence in Ukraine to be a problem for his cousin.

‘It does produce a certain potential security risk,’ ‘If something did happen to me, now the vice president is like “one of my g*d***ed relatives is a captive right? so it hamstrings his ability.’

 Nate Vance said JD was not ‘lying’ in his book ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ about the way he was raised, reflecting that he was present for part of the vice president’s life. 

‘His childhood was worse than the book made it sound,’ if you’re going to ask me for an honest opinion, if there’s any dishonesty,’ he said. 

Nate Vance said he was currently writing his own book about his experience in Ukraine and what it would take for them to win the war in Russia and was currently looking for a literary agent and a publisher. 

‘I’m like 99 percent done … I got about 85,000 words written. The difficult about finishing it is that I’m kind of living the last chapter,’ he said.