Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Wednesday dismissed the idea of NATO membership for Ukraine as part of a peace deal with Russia and said the goal to restore Ukraine to its pre-2014 borders was “unrealistic.”
Hegseth made the comments while addressing a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels. “The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome for a negotiated settlement,” he said.
Hegseth said the Trump administration’s goal is to end the war through diplomacy, which he said must start “by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”
Restoring Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders has been a war goal of Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, although there have been signs in recent months that he’s accepted that’s unrealistic. But he is still calling for strong security guarantees from the US that involve the deployment of troops, which Hegseth also dismissed.
“Any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops. If these troops are deployed as peacekeepers to Ukraine at any point, they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission, and they should not be covered under Article 5,” he said.
“There also must be robust international oversight of the line of contact. To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be US troops deployed to Ukraine,” Hegseth added.
On Monday, Russia’s envoy to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said Moscow would consider any foreign troops deployed to Ukraine that are not under the authority of the UN Security Council legitimate targets of the Russian military.
“Peacekeepers’ cannot operate without a mandate from the UN Security Council. Otherwise, any foreign military contingents sent into the combat zone will be regarded as ordinary combatants under international law and a legitimate military target for our armed forces,” Nebenzia said, according to RT.
Hegseth said that the US wanted to reduce involvement in Ukraine to focus on the border and a military buildup in the Asia Pacific aimed at China and claimed Beijing was a threat to the US homeland.
“The United States faces consequential threats to our homeland. We must, and we are focusing on the security of our own borders. We also face a peer competitor in the Communist Chinese with the capability and intent to threaten our homeland,” he said.
Hegseth also said that going forward, European countries should provide the majority of funding to Ukraine and pushed President Trump’s call for NATO countries to increase military spending to 5% of their Gross Domestic Product.
“We ask each of your countries to step up on fulfilling the commitments that you have made, and we challenge your countries and your citizens to double down and recommit yourselves, not only to Ukraine’s immediate security needs but to Europe’s long-term defense and deterrence goals,” Hegseth said.
The secretary said that the Trump administration was “committed” to the US “defense partnership” with Europe but stressed the US expects the European countries to pay more.
