U.S. defence chief suggests Ukraine should abandon hope of winning all territory back from Russia

United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, walks with Britain's Defence Secretary John Healey prior to a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a NATO defence ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (Johanna Geron, Pool Photo via AP)

BRUSSELS — U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic and in sweeping remarks 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.

Hours 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 U.S. policy toward Ukraine, the Republican disclosed a call between the two leaders and said they would “work together, very closely.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said Zelenskyy and Trump also had a phone conversation.

Addressing 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 defence of Ukraine, including a possible peacekeeping force that would not include U.S. troops.

The defence secretary, making the first trip to NATO by a member of the new Trump administration, also said the force should not have Article 5 protections, which could require the U.S. or the 31 other nations of the NATO alliance to come to the aid of those forces if they end up in contact with Russian forces.

Hegseth’s warning to Ukraine that it should abandon its NATO bid and its push to reclaim all Russian-occupied territory sent a stark message to Kyiv, signaling that the Trump administration’s view of a potential settlement is remarkably close to Moscow’s 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.

The secretary’s comments were sure to dim Ukraine’s hopes of making itself whole again and to complicate talks later this week between Zelenskyy and U.S. Vice President JD Vance and other senior American officials at a major security security conference in Munich.

“The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth said, as Kyiv’s 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.

All 32 allies must agree for a country to join NATO, meaning that every member has a veto.

“Instead, any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops,” Hegseth said. “To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine.”

Other Western allies said the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO needs to stay on the table.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said NATO “is still the main guarantee of security for European countries.”

Asked about Trump’s phone call with Putin, Barrot said that abandoning Ukraine would “entrench the law of the strongest. It would be an invitation to all the world’s tyrants and despots to invade their neighbours with complete impunity.”

Hegseth 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’s founding treaty that obliges all allies to come to the aid of any member under attack.

Article 5 has been activated only once, when European allies and Canada used the collective security guarantee to help the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks on New York and Washington.

Hegseth also said Europe “must provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine.” Ukraine currently relies equally on Europe and the U.S. for about 30% each of its defence needs. The rest is produced by Ukraine itself.

Speaking with the allies of Ukraine known as the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, he also insisted that Ukraine’s Western backers must abandon the “illusionary goal” of returning the country to its pre-2014 borders, before Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and seized parts of eastern Ukraine.

“Members of this contact group must meet the moment,” Hegseth said to the approximately 50 member countries that have provided support to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

In his social media post, Trump said he and Putin “talked 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” in the war.

Trump said the two leaders “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.”

Zelenskyy said he had a “meaningful conversation” with Trump about “opportunities to achieve peace.” He said Trump shared details of his conversation with Putin.

“No one wants peace more than Ukraine,” Zelenskyy posted on X. “Together with the U.S., 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. We agreed to maintain further contact and plan upcoming meetings.”

Talking to reporters after the NATO meeting, U.K. Defence Secretary John Healey said Hegseth’s words would not go unheeded.

“We heard his call for European nations to step up. We are, and we will,” he said.

Healey underlined that “Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO. That is a process that will take some time.”

He also announced that Britain would provide Ukraine with a fresh $187 million “firepower package,” including drones, tanks and air-defence systems.

Over 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 U.S., which has served as the chair of the group since its creation.

Hegseth’s trip comes less than two weeks before the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. Most U.S. allies fear that Putin won’t stop at Ukraine’s borders if he wins, and that Europe’s biggest land war in decades poses an existential threat to their security.

Trump has promised to end the war quickly. He’s complained that it’s costing American taxpayers too much money and suggested that Ukraine should pay for U.S. support with access to its rare earth minerals, energy and other resources.

Before Hegseth spoke, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told The Associated Press that Putin will only negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine if its backers continue to provide enough weapons and ammunition.

“We have to make sure that he has no other option, and that means to force him to the table,” Rutte said.

------

By Lorne Cook And Tara Copp

Copp reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.