Hegseth to NATO: U.S. troops won't guarantee Ukraine's security after war
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Hegseth with Ukrainian defense minister Rustem Umerov. Photo via Umerov's Facebook
BRUSSELS -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a blunt message to NATO allies Wednesday: U.S. troops will not be part of any future peace-keeping mission in Ukraine.
- Nor should NATO's Article 5 protections — under which the U.S. vows to respond if an ally is attacked — apply to any European forces sent to Ukraine to secure a postwar peace settlement, he said.
- Ukraine, meanwhile, should make a deal now — and give up on regaining all of its occupied territory, or becoming a member of NATO.
Why it matters: Hegseth is the first senior Trump administration official to visit NATO headquarters, where he met with Ukraine's defense minister and other key officials ahead of the third anniversary of Russia's invasion.
- A few hundred miles away, Vice President Vance is slated to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference later this week to discuss President Trump's vision for peace.
- Since Trump's election, NATO and Ukrainian officials have been bracing for the U.S. to wind down military aid to Ukraine — and potentially force Kyiv to make territorial concessions to Russia.
What they're saying: Ahead of his first meeting with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO HQ, Hegseth relayed a simple message from Trump: "The bloodshed must stop, and this war must end."
- "We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective," Hegseth said, referring to Russia's years-long occupation of Crimea and the eastern Donbas region.
- "Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering."
The big picture: Turning to the prospect of peace talks, Hegseth suggested that Trump's efforts to drive down energy prices will weaken the Russian "war machine" and help bring Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.
- A future peace deal must include "robust security guarantees" for Ukraine, Hegseth said — backed by "capable European and non-European troops," but not through NATO membership or U.S. troops on the ground.
- "If these [NATO-country] troops are deployed as peacekeepers to Ukraine at any point, they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission, and they should not be covered under Article 5," Hegseth stressed.
Between the lines: Hegseth is both pushing Ukraine to seek a deal, and ruling out provisions Kyiv would want as part of any agreement to reduce the risk Russia would attack again when the time was ripe.
- In an interview with The Guardian this week, Zelensky dismissed the notion that Europe could provide legitimate security guarantees without American muscle.
- "Security guarantees without America are not real security guarantees," Zelensky said, suggesting he could win Trump over by offering American companies lucrative contracts to rebuild Ukraine.
- Trump recently demanded that Ukraine grant access to $500 billion in rare earth minerals in return for years of U.S. military support, and is dispatching Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Kyiv this week.
What to watch: "Europe must provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine," Hegseth said, warning that the strategic threat from China will no longer allow the U.S. to be "primarily focused on the security of Europe."
- "The United States remains committed to the NATO alliance and to the defense partnership with Europe," he concluded.
- "But the United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency."
