U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett said Wednesday that returning Ukraine to its pre-2014 borders is not realistic and that the Trump administration does not see Ukraine’s membership in NATO as part of the solution to the war against Russia.
Speaking at a meeting of Ukraine’s military allies at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Hegsett gave the new U.S. administration’s most direct yet account of the nearly three-year-old war in Ukraine.
He also said NATO member states would need to increase defense spending to take greater responsibility for European security.
“We, like you, want a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But first we must recognize that returning Ukraine to its pre-2014 borders is not a realistic goal,” Hegsett told a meeting of more than 40 countries that are helping Ukraine.
“The pursuit of that illusory goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering,” he added.
Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014 and has since backed pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in an armed rebellion against Kiev.
Moscow currently controls about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, mostly in the east and south.
Hegseth said lasting peace requires “strong security guarantees so that war does not break out again.”
“The United States does not believe that Ukraine’s membership in NATO is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” he stressed.
Instead, security guarantees should be backed by “capable European and non-European forces,” he said.
“If these troops are ever deployed in Ukraine as peacekeepers, they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission and not be covered by Article 5,” he said, referring to NATO’s mutual defense clause.
Europe should provide the “overwhelming” majority of future aid to Ukraine, Hegseth said, noting that the US would no longer tolerate an “unbalanced relationship” within NATO.
“The United States remains committed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and defense partnership with Europe. But the United States will no longer tolerate an unbalanced relationship that fosters dependence,” the US defense secretary said at the opening of a meeting of the contact group that coordinates military aid to Ukraine.
