JD Vance denies disrespecting UK and France over Ukraine peacekeeping force

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Vice President JD Vance addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., February 20, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo

LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President JD Vance denied on Tuesday disrespecting Britain and France by describing a planned peacekeeping force in Ukraine as 20,000 troops from some "random country that has not fought a war in 30 or 40 years".

Vance's comments about the planned British- and French-led European peacekeeping force caused politicians and veterans in both countries to say he was dishonouring hundreds of troops killed fighting alongside U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.