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 dishonoring hundreds of troops killed fighting alongside U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Vance said it was "absurdly dishonest" to suggest he had criticized British or French troops in his comments, made in an interview with Fox News on Monday.