Putin has "made significant concessions" to the U.S., Vance insists, and has "been willing to be flexible" on "core demands"

Russia is "not at all" stringing President Trump along, Vice President JD Vance insisted to NBC's "Meet the Press with Kristen Welker" in an interview published Sunday.

Vance sat down with Welker for a lengthy interview and one of the first topics the NBC host tackled was ongoing war in Ukraine.

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"I had the opportunity to speak with the Russian foreign minister," Welker began. "He says as of right now there's no meeting planned between President Putin and President Zelensky, and he added there needs to be an agenda first saying 'This agenda is not ready at all.'"

At that Welker then asked Vance point-blank, "Are the Russians stringing President Trump along?"

"No. Not at all. I think the Russians have made significant concessions to President Trump for the first time in three and a half years of this conflict," Vance said. "They've actually been willing to be flexible on some of their core demands. They've talked about what would be necessary to end the war."

Though he admitted Russian officials "haven't been completely there yet," he said the U.S. is "engaging in this diplomatic process in good faith" and "trying to negotiate as much as we can with both the Russians and the Ukrainians to find a middle ground to stop the killing."

Vance continued, "I think what the president has tried to do here is try to engage in very aggressive, very energetic diplomacy because this war is not in anyone's interest. It's not in Europe or the United States's interest. We don't think it's in Russia or Ukraine's interest to keep going. So we're going to keep on pushing for a diplomatic solution."

Despite Republican insistence to the contrary, the Aug. 16 meeting between Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin has been largely seen as a failure for the United States. "It is painfully clear that Trump is doing this to boost his tough guy image with his base. But that is going to be a challenge," John Oliver told "Last Week Tonight" viewers.

"Because it is a tough sell for the man who was friends with a child sex trafficker, brought about this mess" -- an image of the Jan. 6 insurrection appeared onscreen at this moment -- "and on Friday got steamrolled by a bloodthirsty warlord, to convince Americans that he is keeping them safe, when I would argue, if anyone is making things too dadgum dangerous in this country, it's probably f-king him right now."

As if his assessment of Russia's intentions was not enough, Vance also offered a history lesson of sorts.

"If you look historically, whenever you have a complicated war with a lot of death and destruction, it kind of goes in fits and starts. There are hills and valleys to the negotiation," Vance said.

"We sometimes feel like we've made great progress with the Russians, and sometimes, as the president has said, he's been very frustrated with the Russians. And we're going to keep on doing what we have to do to bring this thing to a close," he added.

Vance notably admitted the goal may not be to stop "the killing" -- but to make sure the two countries find "middle ground."

Watch the full "Meet The Press" interview in the video above.