- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 05:37 06:51 12:36 15:48 18:15 19:30
US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth announced his country’s opposition to any plan to admit Ukraine into NATO.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with the Ukrainian Contact Group in Brussels, Hegseth confirmed that Washington will not deploy troops to Ukraine under any peace agreement with Russia.
He stated that restoring Kyiv’s full territorial integrity or Ukraine joining NATO are not realistic objectives. “To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will be no American troops deployed in Ukraine,” he added.
The US defence chief said that any peace process "must begin with the acknowledgment that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic goal," despite both Washington and Europe wanting a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine.
He warned that "the United States does not believe Ukraine’s NATO membership is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement" and urged allies to increase their military spending. He said Washington expects more from its allies.
Hegseth added, "Protecting European security should be a must for European members of NATO," and stressed that Europe must contribute the vast majority of future lethal and non-lethal assistance to Ukraine. He also warned that Washington would not accept what it sees as an “unbalanced” burden-sharing within the transatlantic alliance.
He concluded that the United States remains committed to NATO and its defence partnership with Europe but will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship that encourages dependency.
Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.