The US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth declared that the membership of Ukraine in NATO is not realistic and ruled out the deployment of American troops in that nation, which he called to prepare to reach an agreement with Russia that includes sending a force international.
Hegseth made his comments on Wednesday On the first trip to NATO and to the contact group for Ukraine by a member of the Donald Trump administration. The allies were waiting to see how much financial and military support would give Ukraine the new government in Washington.
What they heard is that President Trump seeks to make Europe take care of financial and military assistance for Ukraine, including a peace force that would not have American personnel and that, according to Hegseth, he would not be obliged to apply article five, according to which all the nations of the Alliance must defend one of them if it is attacked or if it comes to contact Russian forces.
“There will be no US troops deployed in Ukraine,” Hegseth said. He added that countries must abandon the “illusory objective” to return Ukraine to their borders prior to 2014, before Russia attached the Crimean Peninsula and seized parts of East of Ukraine.
“The members of this contact group must be up to the moment,” Hegseth told representatives of approximately 50 countries that have been supporting Ukraine since the Russian invasion of 2022.
“We listened to them,” replied the Secretary of Defense of the United Kingdom, John Healey, to the initial comments of Hegseth. Both Hegesh and Healey talked to the press at the beginning of what would be a session behind closed in Brussels to discuss future help to Ukraine.
For almost three years, around 50 countries have collectively provided to Ukraine more than 126,000 million dollars in arms and military assistance. But this week’s meeting was convened by another country for the first time: the United Kingdom. All previous meetings of the Forum were chaired by the United States.
No decision has been made about who could preside over the next meeting, if one is called.
It was not expected that Hegseth made any announcement about new weapons for Ukraine.
His trip occurs less than two weeks before the third anniversary of the large -scale invasion of Russia to Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Most American allies fear that Russian president Vladimir Putin does not stop at the borders of Ukraine If he wins, and that the greatest land war in Europe in decades represents an existential threat to its safety.
A rapid end to war?
US President Donald Trump has promised to quickly end war. He has complained that he is having too much money from US taxpayers. He has suggested that Ukraine should pay for US support with access to their rare minerals, energy and other resources.
Hegseth, in his comments, said that NATO members also need to significantly increase the defense expenditure to 5 % of their budgets, a figure that does not even comply with the United States.
“The United States will no longer tolerate an unbalanced relationship that foster dependence; Rather, our relationship will prioritize empowering Europe to assume the responsibility of their own security, ”said Hegseth.
Some American allies fear that a rushed agreement can be reached in terms that are not favorable for Ukraine. In addition, Trump seems to believe that European countries should assume responsibility for Ukraine security in the future.
NATO is based on the principle that an attack on any ally should be considered an attack on all and must be responded collectively. Membership is considered the maximum security guarantee, and is one that Ukraine is trying to ensure.
Security needs and defense expenditure of Ukraine will be discussed on Thursday. European allies have increased their military budgets since Putin ordered their troops to enter Ukraine, and it is estimated that 23 have reached or exceeded last year the objective of spending 2% of the gross domestic product.
It is expected that NATO leaders agree new spending objectives at their next summit, in The Hague, from June 24 to 26.
[Con información de The Associated Press]
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