Speaking in the meeting of the Contact Group for Defense of Ukraine in Brussels, Hegseth said that it would be possible to establish a “permanent peace” only with the “realistic battlefield assessment”.
The American Defense Minister also diminished the possibility of joining Ukraine to NATO and excluded sending American troops in Ukraine as part of any future security arrangements.
Kiev repeatedly asked NATO membership and in the past, he rejected the assignment of territories as part of the peace agreement.
Hegseth, named Defense Minister after Donald Trump in the position of President of the United States, said in a meeting of more than 40 countries of Ukraine: “I want, as well as you, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine.
“But we must start with recognition that it is a return to Ukrainian borders from 2014. An unrealistic goal.
“The search for this illusory target will only extend the war and bring even more suffering.”
Russia was annexed by the Black Sea Peninsula Crimea of Ukraine in March 2014. years, then supported the Prorussian Separatists in the Armed Rebellion against the Forces of Kiev in the east of Ukraine.
Moscow currently controlled around the fifth of Ukrainian territory, mostly in the east and south of the country.
Hegseth said that each permanent peace must include “powerful security guarantees to ensure that the war does not start again.”
However, he emphasized that “United States do not believe that Ukrainian membership in NATO is a real outcome of the negotiations on the conflict resolution.”
Instead, security guarantees should be supported by the presence of “capable European and non-European troops”.
“If these troops were deployed in Ukraine as a peacekeeping force at some point, it should be part of a non-NATO mission and should not be covered in Article 5,” he said, thinking of a clause on mutual defense of NATO.
Trump consistently emphasized that his priority was terminated by the war, which began Russian invasion in Ukraine in February 2022. He was also critical of American consumption on Kiev military assistance.
(Vijesti.ba)
