David Axelrod, a seasoned Democratic strategist, highlighted an unusual incident where the Vice President contradicted the President during the recent Zelensky meltdown, which went unnoticed by many.

During the tense exchange in the Oval Office yesterday, Axelrod noted that Vance mentioned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a statement that the President has avoided making.

In an interview on CNN, Axelrod audibly sighed before sharing the particular moment that stood out to him as a rare instance of Vance publicly differing from the President.

‘He was trying to make a point that Ukraine had a lot at stake in trying to end the war, but in making the point, he actually contradicted the president who refuses to say that same,’ he said. 

‘The one thing I think people have missed that kind of caught my ear,’ he told CNN’s Dana Bash. ‘[It] was [how] Vance began by saying that Russia had invaded Ukraine and destroyed much of the country, that’s something that the President of the United States won’t say.’ 

Obama’s former advisor went on to label Vance the ‘provocateur’ of the day.

Axelrod also said Vance went against ‘the spirit’ of the United Nations vote earlier this week in which the US sided with authoritarian regimes – which included Russia, North Korea, Belarus and Hungary – by opposing a UN resolution condemning Russian aggression against Ukraine. 

‘So that was very odd to me,’ he added, and said the peace talks ‘got very nasty very fast.’ 

 Alexrod continued saying that there was a sense of ‘intent to try and blow up this meeting.’ 

‘I hope that it’s not to justify a withdrawal of aid to Ukraine,’ he said. ‘The words that didn’t come up were security.’ 

‘The core of what was being argued today was whether you could trust Vladamir Putin; Zelensky said you couldn’t and based on his own experience and he talked about why.’ 

‘Trump said, “He’s never lied to me, and therefore can trust me,” but what happens when Trump goes is one question even if that were true,’ Alexrod added.  

‘I think that’s the core of this, they need security guarantees and without that, peace through strength is actually peace through surrender,’ he concluded. 

Bash responded that that was why Zelensky then gave a ‘history lesson’ about why he didn’t trust Putin. 

During yesterday’s Oval Office spat that ended with Zelensky abruptly exiting the White House after being asked to leave, Vance said: ‘For four years, the United States of America, we had a president who stood up at press conferences and talked tough about Vladimir Putin, and then Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant chunk of the country.’ 

Vance went on to say that ‘the path to peace and prosperity is, maybe, engaging in diplomacy.’ 

 He described former President Joe Biden as ‘thumping’ the nation’s chest and ‘pretending that the president of the United States’ words mattered more than [his] actions.’ 

‘What makes a good country is America engaging in diplomacy. That’s what President Trump is doing,’ he concluded. 

Vance’s comment suggesting that Russia had instigated the war between the two countries contradicted the United States’ move on Monday. 

Ukraine had put forward a resolution to call out Russia’s aggression and demanded an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops. 

The United States, however, joined Russia in voting against the resolution that made it clear Russia was the aggressor in the conflict.  

The General Assembly voted 93-18 with 65 abstentions to approve the Ukrainian resolution.

The result showed some diminished support for Ukraine, because previous assembly votes saw more than 140 nations condemn Russia’s aggression and demand an immediate withdrawal.

The assembly then turned to the US-drafted resolution, which acknowledges ‘the tragic loss of life throughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict’ and ‘implores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia,’ but never mentions Moscow’s aggression.

 In a surprise move, France proposed three amendments, which added that the conflict was the result of a ‘full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.’

The amendments reaffirm the assembly’s commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity, and call for peace that respects the UN Charter.

Russia proposed an amendment calling for ‘root causes’ of the conflict to be addressed. All the amendments were approved and the resolution passed 93-8 with 73 abstentions, with Ukraine voting ‘yes,’ the US abstaining, and Russia voting ‘no.’

Both assembly resolutions were supported by US allies in Asia, including Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, its neighbors Canada and Mexico and European countries, with the exception of Hungary.

The UN vote made for some pre-existing tension during yesterday’s meeting in the Oval Office. 

Zelensky followed Vance’s comment on diplomacy by pointing out that Putin’s attack on Ukraine had begun in 2014, where ‘nobody stopped him’ and ‘he just occupied and took. He killed people.’ 

Trump interjected and made the point he was not in presidency then, which Zelensky acknowledged, ‘that’s exactly right.’ 

‘Yes, but during 2014 [until] 2022, the situation is the same, that people have been dying on the contact line. Nobody stopped him. You know that we had conversations with him, a lot of conversations, my bilateral conversation,’ Zelensky continued. 

 ‘And we signed with him, me, like, you, president, in 2019. I signed with him the deal. I signed with him, [French President Emmanuel] Macron and [former German Chancellor Angela] Merkel,’ he pointed out, referring to the ceasefire deal in 2019.  

‘All of them told me that he will never go, but after that, he broke the ceasefire, he killed our people, and he didn’t exchange prisoners. We signed the exchange of prisoners. But he didn’t do it. What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about? What do you mean?’ Zelensky further jabbed. 

Vance vaguely responded with, ‘the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country,’ before laying into Zelensky for showing ‘disrespect… in front of the American media.’ 

It’s not yet clear how the dramatic argument will affect Ukraine’s future during the war.