Washington dashes Kyiv's NATO hopes

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dropped a bombshell in Brussels on Wednesday with his shocking messages on how to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Hegseth told the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in the NATO headquarters that European troops should be the primary force securing a post-conflict Ukraine and that there will not be US troops deployed to Ukraine.

Any troops from NATO countries in Ukraine would not be covered by the alliance's Article 5, which stipulates that an attack on any NATO member is one on the entire alliance, he added.

"The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement," Hegseth said during his first trip abroad after taking office.

He added that "returning to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective", saying that "chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering".

"Honesty will be our policy going forward," Hegseth said.

His remarks contrast sharply with the public rhetoric from European Union leaders and the previous Joe Biden administration.

"We hear you," said British Defense Minister John Healey, who chaired the Ukraine contact group of more than 50 countries.

"On stepping up for Ukraine, we are and we will. On stepping up for European security, we are and we will," he said in response to Hegseth's speech.

Kaja Kallas, EU foreign policy and security affairs chief, said in a message late on Wednesday that "Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity are unconditional".

"Our priority must now be strengthening Ukraine and providing robust security guarantees," she said, adding that Europe must have a central role in any negotiation.

The Ukraine crisis will be a key topic at the Munich Security Conference that runs from Friday to Sunday, with a US delegation led by Vice-President JD Vance.

Anatol Lieven, director of the Eurasia Program at the US think tank Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said Hegseth popped the bubble of illusion, and that he deserves special gratitude from the Ukrainian and European establishments for telling the truth before things go way too far.

For years now, European policies toward Russia and Ukraine, and hopes of expanding the EU eastward, have not just been predicated on support and encouragement from the US; they have tagged along behind the US, he said.

"Under (European Commission) President Ursula von der Leyen and foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, the EU's central bureaucracy (has) virtually transformed itself into the political and economic wing of NATO. The wing is still flapping, but where's the bird?" he wrote on the institute's website.

'Willful insanity'

Phillips O'Brien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, wrote on X, "Any European leader who wakes up tomorrow and says confidently that Europe can rely on the USA to be a dependable defense partner, should be removed from office on grounds of willful insanity."

Hegseth's speech "is probably the best the US can offer to Europeans: It will force us to reclaim our autonomy on security", said Alberto Alemanno, a professor of EU law at HEC Paris, clearly referring to the growing calls for more EU strategic autonomy from the US, including boosting the EU's own defense industry.

Ian Bremmer, president of New York-based Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting firm, said most NATO members understand that Ukraine does not have a path to membership and all recognize Ukraine will not get back all its territory, but these are concessions to be negotiated by NATO and the Ukrainians together, not to be unilaterally conceded by Trump in advance of negotiations with Russia.

"The NATO alliance stands weaker today as a consequence," he said.