Hegseth makes first visit to NATO as allies await US plans for Ukraine

BRUSSELS — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday made the first trip to NATO by a member of the new Trump administration, as the allies wait to learn how much military and financial support Washington intends to provide to Ukraine’s government .

Hegseth held talks with U.K. Secretary of State for Defence John Healey before a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Hegseth’s predecessor, former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, set up the forum for drumming up arms and ammunition for Ukraine in 2022.

Over nearly three years, around 50 countries have collectively provided Ukraine more than $126 billion in weapons and military assistance. But the meeting this week was convened by another country for the first time: the United Kingdom. All previous gatherings of the forum were chaired by the United States.

No decision has been made on who might chair the next meeting, if one is called.

Hegseth wasn't expected to make any announcement on new weapons for Ukraine.

SECDEF Pete Hegseth says return to old borders unachievable for Ukraine; NATO membership not “realistic”

His trip comes less than two weeks before the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Most U.S. allies fear that Russian President Vladimir 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.

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

Some U.S. allies worry that a hasty deal might be clinched on terms that aren’t favorable to Ukraine. On top of that, Trump appears to believe that European countries should take responsibility for Ukraine’s security going forward.

Washington’s 31 NATO allies also want to hear what Trump’s new administration has in store for the world’s biggest security organization. Trump traumatized his European partners during his first term in office by threatening not to defend any member that doesn’t meet NATO guidelines for military spending.

NATO is founded on the principle that an attack on any ally must be considered an attack on them all and met with a collective response. Membership is considered to be the ultimate security guarantee, and it’s one that Ukraine is trying to secure.

Ukraine’s security needs and defense spending will be discussed Thursday. European allies have hiked their military budgets since Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine, and 23 are estimated to have reached or exceeded last year the target of spending 2% of gross domestic product.

However, a third of members still haven’t reached that threshold, and Trump is almost certain to target them again . Recently, Trump called for NATO members to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, a level that no member has reached so far — not even Poland, which is the closest, spending more than 4% and expected to approach 5% this year.

Speaking to reporters in Germany on Tuesday, Hegseth wouldn’t commit to having the U.S. increase its defense spending to 5% of GDP. Hegseth said that he believes that the U.S. should spend more than it did under the Biden administration and “should not go lower than 3%.”

He said any final decision would be up to Trump, but added that “we live in fiscally constrained times” and need to be responsible with taxpayer money. The U.S. spends about 3.3% of GDP on defense.

NATO leaders are expected to agree on new spending targets at their next planned summit, in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 24-26.

Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report from Washington.

布鲁塞尔——美国国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯周三成为特朗普新政府成员中首次访问北约，盟国正等待华盛顿方面透露其计划向乌克兰政府提供多少军事和财政支持。

在布鲁塞尔北约总部举行的乌克兰防务联络小组会议之前，赫格塞斯与英国国防大臣约翰·希利举行了会谈。赫格塞斯的前任，前国防大臣劳埃德·奥斯汀，于2022年设立了该论坛，旨在为乌克兰筹集武器弹药。

近三年来，约50个国家共向乌克兰提供了超过1260亿美元的武器和军事援助。但本周的会议却首次由另一个国家——英国——召集。此前所有论坛会议均由美国主持。

目前尚未决定如果召开下次会议，由谁担任主席。

人们原本预计赫格塞斯不会宣布任何有关乌克兰新武器的消息。

国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯表示，乌克兰不可能恢复旧边界；加入北约也不“现实”。

他的此次访问距离俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰三周年纪念日（2022年2月24日）不到两周。大多数美国盟友担心，如果俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京获胜，他的侵略行动不会止步于乌克兰边境，这场欧洲数十年来规模最大的陆地战争对他们的安全构成了生存威胁。

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普承诺尽快结束这场战争。他抱怨说，这场战争耗费了美国纳税人太多钱。他还建议乌克兰应该以稀土矿产、能源和其他资源的开采权来支付美国的支持。

一些美国盟友担心，仓促达成的协议可能对乌克兰不利。此外，特朗普似乎认为，欧洲国家应该承担起乌克兰未来安全的责任。

华盛顿的31个北约盟国也想了解特朗普新政府将对这个世界最大的安全组织提出怎样的计划。特朗普在其第一任期内曾威胁称，如果任何成员国的军费开支不符合北约标准，北约将不会为其提供援助，这令他的欧洲伙伴国感到震惊。

北约的立国原则是，对任何一个盟国的攻击都应被视为对所有盟国的攻击，并应受到集体回应。北约成员国身份被视为最终的安全保障，而乌克兰正努力争取获得这一保障。

乌克兰的安全需求和国防开支问题将于周四进行讨论。自普京下令军队入侵乌克兰以来，欧洲盟国纷纷提高了军费预算，据估计，去年有23个国家的军费开支达到或超过了国内生产总值2%的目标。

然而，仍有三分之一的成员国尚未达到这一门槛，特朗普几乎肯定会再次将矛头指向它们。最近，特朗普呼吁北约成员国将国防开支提高到GDP的5%，但迄今为止，没有一个成员国达到这一水平——即使是最接近的波兰，其国防开支已超过GDP的4%，预计今年将接近5%。

周二在德国接受记者采访时，赫格塞斯并未承诺美国会将国防开支提高到GDP的5%。赫格塞斯表示，他认为美国应该比拜登政府时期增加国防开支，“不应低于GDP的3%”。

他表示，最终决定权在特朗普手中，但他补充说，“我们生活在财政紧缩的时代”，需要对纳税人的钱负责。美国国防开支约占GDP的3.3%。

预计北约领导人将在6月24日至26日在荷兰海牙举行的下一次峰会上就新的支出目标达成一致。

Lolita C. Baldor从华盛顿为本报道做出了贡献。