BRUSSELS: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic and suggested Kyiv should abandon hopes of winning all its territory back from Russia and instead prepare for a negotiated peace settlement to be backed up by international troops.
\nHours later, President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin negotiations on ending the Ukraine war. In a social media post that upended three years of US policy toward Ukraine, the Republican disclosed a call between the two leaders and said they would \u201cwork together, very closely.\u201d Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky\u2019s office said Zelensky and Trump also had a phone conversation.
\nTaken together, the statements by Trump and Hegseth offered the clearest look yet at how the new administration might try to end Europe\u2019s largest land war in generations.
\nHegseth\u2019s warning to Ukraine that it should abandon its NATO bid and its push to reclaim all Russian-occupied territory signaled starkly to Kyiv that the administration\u2019s view of a potential settlement is remarkably close to Moscow\u2019s vision. Putin has declared that any peace deal must ensure that Ukraine gives up its NATO ambitions and withdraws its troops from the four regions that Russia annexed in September 2022 but never fully captured.
\nIn sweeping remarks to allies eager to hear how much continued support Washington intends to provide to the Ukrainian government, Hegseth indicated that Trump is determined to get Europe to assume most of the financial and military responsibilities for the defense of Ukraine, including a possible peacekeeping force that would not include US troops.
\nMaking the first trip to NATO by a member of the new Trump administration, the defense secretary also said the force should not have Article 5 protections, which could require the US or the 31 other nations of the NATO alliance to come to the aid of those forces if they are attacked by Russian forces.
\nThe secretary\u2019s comments were sure to dim Ukraine\u2019s hopes of making itself whole again and to complicate talks later this week between Zelensky and US Vice President JD Vance and other senior American officials at a major security security conference in Munich.
\n\u201cThe United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,\u201d Hegseth said, as Kyiv\u2019s backers gathered at NATO headquarters for a meeting to drum up more arms and ammunition for the war, which will soon enter its fourth year.
\nAll 32 allies must agree for a country to join NATO, meaning that every member has a veto.
\n\u201cInstead, any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops,\u201d Hegseth said. \u201cTo be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be US troops deployed to Ukraine.\u201d
\nOther Western allies said the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO needs to stay on the table.
\nFrench Foreign Minister Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot said NATO \u201cis still the main guarantee of security for European countries.\u201d
\nAsked about Trump\u2019s phone call with Putin, Barrot said that abandoning Ukraine would \u201centrench the law of the strongest. It would be an invitation to all the world\u2019s tyrants and despots to invade their neighbors with complete impunity.\u201d
\nHegseth insisted that NATO should play no role in any future military mission to police the peace in Ukraine and that any peacekeeping troops should not be covered by the part of NATO\u2019s founding treaty that obliges all allies to come to the aid of any member under attack.
\nArticle 5 has been activated only once, when European allies and Canada used it to help the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.
\nHegseth also said Europe \u201cmust provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine.\u201d Ukraine currently relies equally on Europe and the US for about 30 percent each of its defense needs. The rest is produced by Ukraine itself.
\nSpeaking with the allies of Ukraine known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Hegseth also insisted that Ukraine\u2019s Western backers must abandon the \u201cillusionary goal\u201d of returning the country to its pre-2014 borders, before Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and seized parts of eastern Ukraine.
\n\u201cMembers of this contact group must meet the moment,\u201d Hegseth said to the approximately 50 member countries that have provided support to Ukraine since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in 2022.
\nIn his social media post, Trump said he and Putin \u201ctalked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together. But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place\u201d in the war.
\nTrump said the two leaders \u201cagreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.\u201d
\nZelensky said he had a \u201cmeaningful conversation\u201d with Trump about \u201copportunities to achieve peace.\u201d He said Trump shared details of his conversation with Putin.
\n\u201cNo one wants peace more than Ukraine,\u201d Zelensky posted on X. \u201cTogether with the US, we are charting our next steps to stop Russian aggression and ensure a lasting, reliable peace. As President Trump said, let\u2019s get it done. We agreed to maintain further contact and plan upcoming meetings.\u201d
\nTalking to reporters after the NATO meeting, UK Defense Secretary John Healey said Hegseth\u2019s words would not go unheeded.
\n\u201cWe heard his call for European nations to step up. We are, and we will,\u201d Healey said.
\nHealey underlined that \u201cUkraine\u2019s rightful place is in NATO. That is a process that will take some time.\u201d
\nHe also announced that Britain would provide Ukraine with a fresh $187 million \u201cfirepower package,\u201d including drones, tanks and air-defense systems.
\nOver nearly three years, those 50 countries have collectively provided Ukraine with more than $126 billion in weapons and military assistance, including more than $66.5 billion from the US, which has served as the chair of the group since its creation.
\nHegseth\u2019s trip comes less than two weeks before the third anniversary of Russia\u2019s invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. Most US allies fear that Putin won\u2019t stop at Ukraine\u2019s borders if he wins.
\nTrump has promised to end the war quickly. He\u2019s complained that it\u2019s costing American taxpayers too much money and suggested that Ukraine should pay for US support with access to its rare earth minerals, energy and other resources.
\nOn Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was in Kyiv to discuss a potential economic cooperation agreement with Ukraine that Trump is pushing as part of the foundation for a larger peace deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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