Trump administration voices doubt about Ukraine joining NATO, keeping all its territory

BRUSSELS — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic.

In sweeping remarks, he suggested Kyiv should abandon hopes of winning all its territory back from Russia and instead prepare for a negotiated peace settlement to be backed up by international troops.

Hours later, President Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin “negotiations” on ending the Ukraine war. In a social media post, the president disclosed a lengthy call Wednesday between the two leaders and said they would “work together, very closely” to bring the conflict to an end.

“We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together,” Trump said. “But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine.

Trump said they would meet in person, including perhaps in each other’s country.

He appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, national security advisor Michael Waltz and his special Mideast envoy, Steven Witkoff, to lead those talks.

White House officials later declined to clarify whether Ukraine would be a party to the U.S. negotiations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the conversation between Trump and Putin covered a good deal of ground, including the Middle East and Iran in addition to Ukraine, which was the main focus.

It was unclear how closely Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky would be involved. Trump held a phone call with him Wednesday, Ukrainian presidential advisor Dmytro Lytvyn said, characterizing it as a “good conversation.”

Zelensky sought to put a brave face on what many in Ukraine will see as a major disappointment.

In a social media post, he said he had had “a meaningful conversation with” Trump that included discussion of “opportunities to achieve peace” and Kyiv’s “readiness to work together at the team level, and Ukraine’s technological capabilities — including drones and other advanced industries.”

“I am grateful to President Trump,” he said.

At the NATO meeting, Hegseth indicated that Trump is determined to get Europe to assume most of the financial and military responsibilities for the defense of Ukraine, including a possible peacekeeping force that would not include U.S. troops.

The Defense secretary, making the first trip to NATO by a member of the new Trump administration, also said the peacekeeping force should not have Article 5 protections, which could require the U.S. or the 31 other nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to come to the aid of those forces if they end up in contact with Russian forces.

Hegseth’s stark message, and his insistence that Russia should keep some territory that Ukraine wants back, offered the closest look yet at how the administration might try to end the war.

The secretary’s comments were also sure to dim Ukraine’s hopes of making itself whole again and to complicate talks later this week between Zelensky and U.S. Vice President JD Vance and other senior American officials at a major security security conference in Munich, Germany.

“The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth said, as Kyiv’s backers gathered at NATO headquarters for a meeting to drum up more arms and ammunition for the war, which will soon enter its fourth year.

The Biden administration had joined other NATO members since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in vowing that membership in the alliance was “inevitable.”

Trump’s announcement appeared to dismantle the Biden-era mantra that Kyiv would be a full participant in any decisions made. “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” Biden and his top national security aides said repeatedly.

All 32 allies must agree for a country to join NATO.

At NATO, Hegseth said Europe “must provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine.”

“Any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops,” Hegseth said. “To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine.”

Ukraine relies equally on Europe and the U.S. for about 30% each of its defense needs. The rest is produced by Ukraine.

Speaking with the allies of Ukraine known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Hegseth also insisted that Ukraine’s Western backers must abandon the “illusionary goal” of returning the country to its pre-2014 borders, before Russia illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula and seized parts of eastern Ukraine.

“Members of this contact group must meet the moment,” Hegseth said to the approximately 50 member countries that have provided support to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said Hegseth’s words would not go unheeded.

“We heard his call for European nations to step up. We are, and we will,” he said.

Healey underlined that “Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO. That is a process that will take some time.”

He also announced that Britain would provide Ukraine with a fresh $187-million “firepower package,” including drones, tanks and air-defense systems.

Over nearly three years, those 50 countries have collectively provided Ukraine with more than $126 billion in weapons and military assistance, including more than $66.5 billion from the U.S., which has served as the chair of the group since its creation.

Hegseth’s trip comes less than two weeks before the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. Most U.S. allies fear that Putin won’t stop at Ukraine’s borders if he wins, and that Europe’s biggest land war in decades poses an existential threat to their security.

Trump has promised to end the war quickly. He’s complained that it’s costing American taxpayers too much money and suggested that Ukraine should pay for U.S. support with access to its rare earth minerals, energy and other resources.

Hegseth in his remarks said that NATO member nations also need to significantly increase defense spending to 5% of their budgets — a high mark that the U.S. does not presently meet.

“The United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependence. Rather, our relationship will prioritize empowering Europe to own responsibility for its own security,” Hegseth said.

European allies have hiked their military budgets since Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine, and 23 of them are estimated to have reached or exceeded last year’s target of spending 2% of gross domestic product, but a third still fall short.

Some U.S. allies worry that a hasty deal might be clinched on terms that aren’t favorable to Ukraine.

Before Hegseth spoke, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told the Associated Press that Putin will negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine only if Kyiv’s backers continue to provide enough weapons and ammunition.

“We have to make sure that he has no other option, and that means to force him to the table,” Rutte said. “He needs to understand that we will not give up on Ukraine. We have to make sure that we have maximum economic impact on Russia.”

Hegseth’s remarks come a day after American schoolteacher Marc Vogel returned safely to the U.S. after three years in a Russian prison, part of a prisoner swap for convicted Russian Alexander Vinnik.

Vinnik, according to two U.S. officials, was arrested in 2017 in Greece at the request of the U.S. on cryptocurrency fraud charges and was later extradited to the United States, where he pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

He is currently in custody in California awaiting transport to return to Russia, the officials said. The Kremlin confirmed that a Russian citizen was freed in the United States in exchange for Fogel but refused to identify him until he arrives in Russia.

Trump welcomed Fogel at the White House on Tuesday evening after his return to U.S. soil on Witkoff’s personal plane. On Wednesday, Trump declined to say if he spoke with Putin about Fogel and didn’t say what the United States had provided in exchange for Fogel’s release.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump suggested that Fogel’s release could help anchor a peace deal on Ukraine, saying: “We were treated very nicely by Russia, actually. I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war.”

Trump said another American, someone “very special,” would be released Wednesday, though he declined to name the person or say from what country.

Cook and Copp write for the Associated Press. Copp reported from Washington. AP writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.