Vance is in Italy, where he meets Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. At a joint press conference at the Chigi Palace in Rome, the American says that there are some "interesting things" to tell about the Ukraine war, but that they are keeping it to themselves for the time being.
I'm not going to take anything for granted, but we feel optimistic that we might be able to reach an end to this very brutal war, says Vance.
Vance's meeting with Meloni takes place as Giorgia Meloni has just returned from Washington, where she met President Donald Trump and the government.
The right-wing politician Meloni has emerged as a European counterpart to the new US government, as it has so far avoided top-level contacts with the EU leadership. President Donald Trump has described the union as a grouping that only exists to "screw with the USA" and has so far prioritized contacts with its individual states.
At their meeting at the White House, Trump praised Meloni as "fantastic". Meloni emphasized their shared conservative foundation and said she wanted to "make the West great again".
Giorgia Meloni's nationalist party, Brothers of Italy, originated from the post-fascist movement in Italy. It became the country's largest party in a series of groundbreaking elections in the autumn of 2022 and leads a conservative right-wing government.
JD Vance, a Catholic convert, is to celebrate Good Friday in the Vatican.
