U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the war between Ukraine and Russia must end and that Ukraine joining NATO is not a realistic outcome. He also dismissed the idea of restoring Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders—before Russia seized Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine—as an unrealistic objective.
Speaking at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Hegseth made clear that the Trump administration is shifting its focus away from European and Ukrainian security, prioritizing U.S. border security and deterrence against China instead. He emphasized that post-war security in Ukraine should be handled primarily by European forces, with no U.S. troop involvement.
“The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth stated, adding that any security guarantees for Ukraine “must be backed by capable European and non-European troops.”
“To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine,” he said.
A European defense official told CNN that while many NATO members privately acknowledge Ukraine’s membership is unlikely, they avoid saying so publicly to prevent giving Russia the impression it can dictate NATO’s decisions. Some former Biden administration officials criticized Hegseth’s remarks, arguing they weakened U.S. leverage in negotiations.
“They just surrendered one of the main points of leverage before negotiations even begin,” former State Department spokesman Matthew Miller wrote on X.
Hegseth also announced no new U.S. aid to Ukraine, signaling a major shift from the Biden administration’s approach. “We’re also here today to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe,” he said.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said earlier Wednesday that he agrees with Trump on the need to “equalize security assistance to Ukraine” but stressed that even more action is needed to shift the conflict’s trajectory.
Hegseth’s remarks offered the clearest articulation yet of the Trump administration’s effort to make the Ukraine conflict a European responsibility, marking a sharp departure from Biden’s policy, which made transatlantic unity and support for Ukraine a centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy.
He also echoed Trump’s calls for NATO allies to increase defense spending from 2% to 5% of their GDP, saying the current target is “not enough.”
