Hegseth rules out Ukraine NATO membership as part of any ceasefire with Russia
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US Policy Shifts on Ukraine, Pentagon Chief Calls NATO Membership 'Unrealistic'
Above: US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth spoke at a joint news conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during the NATO Defense Ministers' meeting on February 13, 2025, in Brussels, Belgium. Image copyright: Omar Havana/Stringer/Getty Image News via Getty Images
The Facts
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared on Wednesday in a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) at NATO headquarters in Brussels that both NATO membership for Ukraine and a return to the country's pre-2014 borders were "unrealistic" objectives in a significant shift in US policy on Ukraine.
The Pentagon chief further said that any security guarantee for Ukraine must have the backing of "capable European and non-European troops," emphasizing that no US troops will be deployed to Ukraine and that any peacekeeping troops deployed to the country must be part of a non-NATO mission.
Hegseth also called for a new "division of labor" to empower Europe to take responsibility for its own security while the US focuses on its border security and China. Ukraine has received over $126B in military assistance and weapons from the UDCG so far, with the US accounting for more than half of that amount.
The Spin
Anti-Trump narrative
The so-called America First foreign policy has always been all about Trump selling anyone and anything for the price he thinks is fair, regardless of values and virtues such as compassion, justice, and morality. He has surrendered to Russia to access rare-earth minerals underneath eastern Ukraine — even if that eventually allows Putin to launch a war for control of the whole of Ukraine.
Pro-Trump narrative
Unlike the Biden administration and globalist elites in Brussels, Trump and his team are moving to end the war in Ukraine so it's only natural that America's policy on Ukraine has shifted to a pragmatic approach and get the job done. It makes no sense to risk a large-scale war for Kyiv to take Donbas and Crimea back, and it's a matter of fact that Ukraine won't join NATO.
Metaculus Prediction
The Controversies
Go Deeper
Establishment split
CRITICAL
PRO
More neutral establishment stance articles
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