Hegseth calls NATO membership for Ukraine unrealistic

BRUSSELS — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic and in sweeping remarks suggested that the country should abandon hopes of returning to its pre-2014 borders and prepare for a negotiated settlement with Russia that would be backed up by international troops.

Hegseth made the comments during the first trip to NATO by a member of the new Trump administration. Allies have been waiting to hear how much continued military and financial support Washington intends to provide to the Ukrainian government .

What they heard was that President Donald Trump is intent on getting Europe to assume most of the financial and military responsibilities for the defense of Ukraine, including a possible peacekeeping force that would not include U.S. troops. Hegseth said the force should not have Article Five 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.

“There will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine,” Hegseth said.

Addressing the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Hegseth said 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 group of approximately 50 member countries that have provided support to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

“We hear you,” U.K. Secretary of State for Defence John Healey said in response to Hegseth’s opening remarks. Both Hegseth and Healey spoke in front of the press at the top of what would be a closed-door session in Brussels to discuss future aid to Ukraine.

Over nearly three years, those 50 countries have collectively provided Ukraine 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.

But the meeting this week was convened by the United Kingdom, and 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.

His trip comes less than two weeks before the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion 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 end the war quickly. He’s complained that it’s costing American taxpayers too much money . He has also suggested that Ukraine should pay for U.S. support with access to its rare earth minerals , energy and other resources.

Hegseth in his remarks said that NATO member nations also need to significantly increase defense spending to 5% of their budgets — a high mark that the U.S. does not presently meet either.

“The United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependence. Rather, our relationship will prioritize empowering Europe to own responsibility for its own security,” Hegseth said.

Some U.S. allies worry that a hasty deal might be clinched on terms that aren’t favorable to Ukraine.

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. “He needs to understand that we will not give up on Ukraine. We have to make sure that we have maximum economic impact on Russia.”

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 has been trying to secure for years.

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 . No NATO members have increased defense spending to 5% of GDP, not even Poland, which is the closest, spending more than 4% and expected to approach 5% this year.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday in Germany, Hegseth wouldn’t commit to having the U.S. increase its defense spending to 5% of GDP. He said 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 to 26.

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

Tara Copp is a Pentagon correspondent for the Associated Press. She was previously Pentagon bureau chief for Sightline Media Group.

布鲁塞尔——美国国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯周三表示，乌克兰加入北约是不现实的，他在措辞严厉的讲话中暗示，乌克兰应该放弃回到2014年以前的边界的希望，并准备与俄罗斯进行谈判，达成由国际部队支持的解决方案。

赫格塞斯是在特朗普新政府成员首次访问北约期间发表上述言论的。盟国一直在等待华盛顿方面表示，将向乌克兰政府提供多少持续的军事和财政支持。

他们听到的消息是，唐纳德·特朗普总统决心让欧洲承担乌克兰防务的大部分财政和军事责任，包括组建一支可能不包括美军的维和部队。赫格塞斯表示，这支部队不应享有《北约》第五条的保护，因为该条款可能规定，如果这支部队最终与俄罗斯军队发生冲突，美国或北约其他31个成员国必须出手援助。

“不会向乌克兰部署美军，”赫格塞斯说。

赫格塞斯在向乌克兰国防联络小组发表讲话时表示，乌克兰的西方支持者必须放弃让该国恢复到 2014 年之前的边界的“虚幻目标”，当时俄罗斯吞并了克里米亚半岛并占领了乌克兰东部的部分地区。

“这个联络小组的成员必须把握时机，”赫格塞斯对大约 50 个成员国组成的小组说道，这些国家自 2022 年俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰以来一直向乌克兰提供支持。

英国国防大臣约翰·希利在回应赫格塞斯的开场白时表示：“我们听到了你们的声音。”赫格塞斯和希利都在布鲁塞尔举行的闭门会议伊始，在媒体面前发表了讲话，此次会议旨在讨论未来对乌克兰的援助问题。

近三年来，这 50 个国家总共向乌克兰提供了超过 1260 亿美元的武器和军事援助，其中包括来自美国的超过 665 亿美元，美国自该组织成立以来一直担任主席国。

但本周的会议是由英国召集的，目前还没有决定如果召开下次会议，由谁来主持。

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。

他的此次访问距离俄罗斯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，而这场欧洲数十年来规模最大的陆地战争将对他们的安全构成生存威胁。

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。

赫格塞斯在讲话中表示，北约成员国也需要大幅增加国防开支，达到其预算的 5%——这是一个美国目前也未能达到的高标准。

“美国将不再容忍这种助长依赖的不平衡关系。相反，我们的关系将优先考虑增强欧洲的能力，使其能够承担起自身安全的责任，”赫格塞斯说。

一些美国盟友担心，仓促达成的协议可能对乌克兰不利。

在赫格塞斯发言之前，北约秘书长马克·吕特告诉美联社，普京只有在乌克兰的支持者继续提供足够的武器弹药的情况下才会与乌克兰进行和平谈判。

“我们必须确保他别无选择，这意味着要迫使他回到谈判桌前，”吕特说。“他需要明白，我们不会放弃乌克兰。我们必须确保对俄罗斯造成最大的经济冲击。”

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，而乌克兰多年来一直努力争取加入北约。

自普京下令军队进入乌克兰以来，欧洲盟国纷纷提高了军费预算，据估计，去年有 23 个国家达到了或超过了国内生产总值 2% 的军费开支目标。

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针对它们。北约成员国中没有一个将国防开支提高到GDP的5%，即使是最接近这一目标的波兰，其国防开支也超过了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%。他表示，他认为美国应该比拜登政府时期增加国防开支，“而且不应低于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。

美联社驻华盛顿记者洛丽塔·C·巴尔多对本报道亦有贡献。

塔拉·科普是美联社驻五角大楼记者。她此前曾担任Sightline媒体集团驻五角大楼分社社长。