Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth outlined President Donald Trump’s plans to bring an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Hegseth addressed the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at a meeting in Brussels, Belgium on Wednesday. The group is an alliance of 57 nations and the European Union, which was created to support the defense of Ukraine after Russia invaded the country in 2022.
The defense secretary laid out the Trump administration’s plan to bring about an end to the war, which has claimed upwards of 300,000 lives since it began.
Hegseth began his remarks by affirming that “as the war approaches its third anniversary, our message is clear: The bloodshed must stop, and this war must end.”
The defense secretary further explained that Trump “intends to end this war by diplomacy and bringing both Russia and Ukraine to the table” with the help of the Defense Department. “We will only end this devastating war and establish a durable peace by coupling allied strength with a realistic assessment of the battlefield,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth asserted that each party “must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective” and that “chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”
He added: “A durable peace for Ukraine must include robust security guarantees to ensure that the war will not begin again.”
The defense secretary further stated that the U.S. “does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.”
Instead, any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops. 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. There also must be robust international oversight of the line of contact.
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Hegseth affirmed that “there will not be US troops deployed to Ukraine,” a promise Trump made on the campaign trail.
However, the U.S. will work to lower energy prices in the region. “President Trump is unleashing American energy production and encouraging other nations to do the same. Lower energy prices, coupled with more effective enforcement of energy sanctions, will help bring Russia to the table,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth noted that the U.S. already has challenges of its own that it must face.
The United States faces consequential threats to our homeland. We must, and we are, focusing on security of our own borders. We also face a peer competitor in the Communist Chinese, with the capability and intent to threaten our homeland and core national interests in the IndoPacific. The US is prioritizing deterring war with China in the Pacific.
Hegseth stressed that the U.S. “remains committed to the NATO alliance and to the defense partnership with Europe, full stop.”
However, the U.S. “will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency” and will “prioritize empowering Europe to own responsibility for its own security.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gives remarks at a Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Brussels.
— Jeff Charles, The Nullifier🏴 (@jeffcharlesjr) February 12, 2025
He rejected the idea of Ukraine joining NATO and sending troops.
"[President Trump] intends to end this war by diplomacy and bringing both Russia and Ukraine to the table." pic.twitter.com/Cg3dEtSgjP
Meanwhile, President Trump has sent Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to The Wall Street Journal.
President Trump is dispatching Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky as the new administration takes on his pledge to end the nearly three-year-old war.
The president has indicated that he is willing to send more weapons to Ukraine if Zelensky provides access to the nation’s mineral resources. “They have tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earth, in terms of oil and gas, in terms of other things,” he said during an interview with Fox News.
Ukraine’s lithium and titanium reserves are estimated to be among Europe’s largest. The country also holds substantial deposits of cobalt and nickel, vital for high-performance batteries and aerospace superalloys used in the defense industry, said Heidi Crebo-Rediker, a senior fellow at the Center for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C.
In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump announced that he “had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia” about the war and other matters.
I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects. We both reflected on the Great History of our Nations, and the fact that we fought so successfully together in World War II, remembering, that Russia lost tens of millions of people, and we, likewise, lost so many! We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together. But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine. President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, “COMMON SENSE.” We both believe very strongly in it. We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations. We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now. I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful. Millions of people have died in a War that would not have happened if I were President, but it did happen, so it must end. No more lives should be lost! I want to thank President Putin for his time and effort with respect to this call, and for the release, yesterday, of Marc Fogel, a wonderful man that I personally greeted last night at the White House. I believe this effort will lead to a successful conclusion, hopefully soon!
The Trump administration is expected to begin peace talks with both Russia and Ukraine in the near future.
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