Defense Secretary Hegseth says return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders not realistic

PHOTO CAPTION: U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on the eve of a NATO defence ministers' meeting at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium February 12, 2025. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -     U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that a return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders was unrealistic and the Trump administration does not see NATO membership for Kyiv as part of a solution to the war triggered by Russia's invasion.

Speaking at a meeting of Ukraine's military allies at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Hegseth delivered the clearest and bluntest public statement so far on the new U.S. administration's approach to the nearly three-year-old war.

He also told Washington's NATO allies that they would have to step up and assume greater responsibility for Europe's security.

"We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognising that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective," Hegseth told the meeting of more than 40 countries allied to Ukraine.

"Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering," he added.

Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 and then backed pro-Russian separatists in an armed insurgency against Kyiv's forces in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine.

Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukraine's territory, mainly in the east and south.

Hegseth said any durable peace must include "robust security guarantees to ensure that the war will not begin again".

But, he said, "the United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement".

Instead, security guarantees should be backed by "capable European and non-European troops", the Pentagon chief said.

"If these 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," he said, referring to the alliance's mutual defence clause.

 (Reporting by Andrew Gray, Lili Bayer and Bart Meijer, writing by Andrew Gray and GV De Clercq; Editing by Gareth Jones)