The US Secretary of Defence sought to clarify that his country was invested in peace after Trump explosively announced talks were to begin after speaking with Putin.
US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth on Thursday insisted that President Donald Trump’s rapid push for peace talks over Russia’s war in Ukraine was “not a betrayal” of Kyiv by one of its most important allies.
“There is a recognition that the whole world and the US is invested in peace, in a negotiated peace,” Hegseth said ahead of a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels.
His comments come after he declared on Wednesday that the US would likely not support Ukraine’s key demands for peace, including returning to its pre-2014 borders and its long-held NATO membership aspirations — which Hegseth called “unrealistic”.
Hegseth also ruled out US troops being part of any peacekeeping mission to guarantee stability in the event of a peace deal, a controversial idea that has been quietly discussed in Europe in recent months.
Hours later, Trump announced he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone and agreed to start peace negotiations.
He echoed Hegseth in declaring he was not closely concerned about which territories were handed over and that he was “okay” with Ukraine not having NATO membership.
Hegseth on Thursday added that Russia’s aggression on Ukraine was a “factory reset for NATO” and a moment of realisation that this alliance needs to be “robust, strong, and real”.
Russia ‘a threat well beyond Ukraine’
In response to Trump’s rapid push for peace talks, European defence ministers insisted both Ukraine and Europe should be involved in the negotiations and reiterated calls to bolster defence spending on the continent.
UK Defence Secretary John Healey said Ukraine should be “on the frontline of freedom” and in the “strongest possible position” for any talks.
He spoke of a fear likely common among European allies in light of Trump’s phone call, that Russia “remains a threat well beyond Ukraine.”
Germany’s Defence Minister Boris Pistorius was frank in his comments, saying it “would have been better” if the US had not given Russia concessions before negotiations started.
A quick peace deal would not resolve all worries about Russia’s assertive policy on the continent, Pistorius said, adding that Europeans could not “sit back and relax”.
French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu struck a similar tone, saying that increasing defence spending needed to start immediately. He also questioned whether NATO would be the most important military alliance in 10-15 years.
As of early 2024, eight of NATO’s 30 European members do not meet the target goal of spending 2% of their GDP on defence. Poland is currently the leader, spending more than 4% of its GDP on defence this year and projected to approach 5% by the end of the year.
On Thursday, Hegseth asked NATO allies to ramp up defence spending to 5%, a target the US itself does not reach.
Over the past 24 hours, NATO Chief Mark Rutte has diplomatically declared that “there is also a clear convergence emerging that we all want peace in Ukraine.”
It is unclear, however, whether Moscow would agree to a peace deal that addresses Ukraine’s conditions.
In an interview with The Guardian published on Tuesday, Zelenskyy suggested that Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine could be swapped for Ukrainian-held territory in Russia’s Kursk region — a suggestion Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov called “impossible”.
He also insisted that the US would need to take part in any potential security package for his country.
For his part, Zelenskyy said that he had spoken to Trump after his phone call with Putin, adding that “no one wants peace more than his country”.
“Together with the US, we are charting our next steps to stop Russian aggression and ensure a lasting, reliable peace. As President Trump said, let’s get it done,” he said.
Trump’s senior advisers are set to meet with Zelenskyy later this week on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
