NATO Membership for Ukraine Not Realistic-US

NATO Membership for Ukraine Not Realistic, Says Hegseth

By Jennifer Duggan February 12, 2025

A peace deal for Ukraine that allows for eventual NATO membership is not a realistic outcome, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. At a meeting of defense ministers today in Brussels, Hegseth also said that US troops won’t be deployed to Ukraine as any part of security guarantees and that it’s not feasible to return Ukraine to its pre-2014 borders, before Russia’s invasion of Crimea.

“Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering,” Hegseth said about Ukraine’s NATO ambitions. President Donald Trump has been pressing for an end to the war in Ukraine, saying his administration is putting together a proposal for peace. Trump said today that he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that the leaders agreed to begin talks on ending the war.

Hegseth also said Europe will need to “step into the arena” and take more responsibility for the continent’s security. But European members of the alliance have been attempting to demonstrate the full scope of their financial support for Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte touted a 20% increase in defense spending from non-US NATO allies last year, compared to 2023.

NATO Touts European Spending on Ukraine as It Awaits Hegseth

• Rutte says non-US allies gave 60% of Ukraine money in 2024 
• Trump’s Pentagon chief Hegseth makes first visit to Brussels 

By Andrea Palasciano February 12, 2025 

• European NATO members are aiming to demonstrate to the Trump administration the full scope of their financial support for Ukraine as they’re set to meet the new US Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth.

• 

  Pete Hegseth, left, with German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius,
  ahead of a NATO defence ministers' meeting in Brussels,
  on Feb. 12.

  Photographer: Johanna Geron/AFP/Getty Images
  
  

  With the future of the US’s aid commitment to Kyiv unclear, NATO defense ministers are hoping to learn more about President Donald Trump’s demands on the alliance when they meet in Brussels this week.(12-02-2025)
• Allies are expecting Trump to keep pushing for more European spending and fairer burden sharing, as well as calling for a swift end to the war in Ukraine, but they’re also hoping to hear that the US commitment to the alliance won’t waver, according to several diplomats.
• Hegseth will take part in a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on Wednesday and then in a full gathering of the alliance’s defense ministers on Thursday. Their Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov, is also expected to join.
• NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte touted a 20% increase in defense spending from non-US NATO allies last year, compared to 2023. He told reporters Wednesday that these non-US allies gave more than half of some €50 billion ($51.9 billion) in aid delivered to Ukraine last year.
• During his first presidency, Trump frequently criticized Europe for lackluster defense spending, and those attacks have continued through recent weeks.
• Trump recently said that NATO countries should spend 5% of their gross domestic product on defense, a figure no single ally reaches, not even the US. The alliance is expected to revise its current spending target of 2% in the coming months, which many, but not all members, now meet.
• Internally, NATO planners estimate that between 3.5% and 3.7% of GDP would be needed to satisfy all the military requirements for the alliance’s defense plans, according to people familiar with the matter.
• Separately, foreign ministers from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, as well as top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas and new defense commissioner Andrius Kubilius, are due to discuss Ukraine in Paris on Wednesday evening.🔺
• Source:Bloomberg