Washington, Feb 13 (Representative) US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth on Wednesday said that the Ukraine-Russia conflict must end, Kyiv’s NATO membership is unrealistic, and the US will no longer prioritise European and Ukrainian security as the Trump administration focuses on securing its borders and deterring war with China, media reports said on Thursday. In remarks before a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, Hegseth also said that European troops should be the primary force securing a post-war Ukraine—something US troops will not be involved in, the CCN reported on Thursday. “The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth said. And he added that any security guarantees offered to Ukraine “must be backed by capable European and non-European troops,” according to CNN report. “To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be US troops deployed to Ukraine,” he said. Hegseth also said that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders, before Russia invaded Crimea and eastern Ukraine, “is an unrealistic objective.” According to reports, NATO allies, including Hegseth, agree that regaining Crimea from Russia is not realistic, and even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has not emphasised this as a prerequisite for peace talks. One NATO official said it would have been more concerning if Hegseth had said that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2022 borders was unrealistic.But the comments about security guarantees are sure to concern Zelensky, who said this week that Europe alone cannot provide meaningful security guarantees to Ukraine without American leadership.Zelensky has also continued to insist that his country joining NATO is the only way to deter Russia from launching new attacks in the future.According to reports, President Trump announced his conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday morning, hours after Hegseth’s speech.Trump said the two agreed to work “very closely” together and begin negotiations “immediately” on ending the war in Ukraine.
“We will begin by calling President Zelensky, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation,” Trump added.The Kremlin on Wednesday said that Putin invited Trump to visit Moscow, which would mark the first visit by a US president since 2013, the report said.Trump spoke with Zelensky shortly after getting off the phone with Putin.Later on Wednesday afternoon, Trump said he agrees with Hegseth and does not “think it’s practical” to have Ukraine join NATO, the report said. “I don’t think it’s practical to have it. Personally, I know that our new secretary of defence is excellent. Pete made a statement today saying that he thinks it’s unlikely or impractical. I think probably that’s true. I think long before President Putin, they said there’s no way they’d allow that. This has been going on for many, many years. They’ve been saying for a long time that Ukraine did not go into NATO, and I’m okay with that,” Trump said from the Oval Office. A European defence official told CNN that while many in NATO don’t necessarily believe Ukraine can join the alliance given the political realities with Russia, they also don’t say so publicly—as Hegseth did—because they want to avoid giving Russia the idea that it can dictate who can and cannot join.