Hegseth tells Europe a return to Ukraine's pre-Russia invasion borders is 'unrealistic'
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said restoring Ukraine's borders to what they were before Russia's invasions and admitting the war-torn country to NATO is unrealistic.
"We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine, but we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective," Hegseth said during his first overseas trip as Donald Trump's new defense secretary. Russia first invaded Crimea, a peninsula on Ukraine's Black Sea coastline, in 2014 before launching its wider invasion nearly three years ago in February of 2022.
"Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering."
Admitting Ukraine to the NATO alliance is also not "a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement" to end the war, Hegseth said.
Hegseth also echoed Trump's complaints that Europe must pick up more of the bill for Ukraine's defense, telling leaders at the group to "meet the moment."
"Europe must provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine," he said.
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Trump signals progress in Ukraine war negotiations
It came hours after Trump's diplomatic flurry with Russia secured the release of Marc Fogel, an American held in Russia for more than three years on marijuana possession charges.
Russia said it would receive one of its prisoners in exchange, but their identity would not be revealed until they were back on Russian soil. It was not clear if the Ukraine war also came up in the negotiations.
Speaking to reporters alongside Fogel at the White House, Trump suggested the deal could be a positive step in negotiating the war's end, saying it created "good will in terms of the war."
But Russia played down its impact. "Such agreements are hardly capable of becoming a breakthrough moment, but at the same time, bit by bit, these are steps to build mutual trust, which is now at its lowest point," Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for Russia's Kremlin, told reporters on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Trump dispatched Scott Bessent, his Treasury Secretary, in pursuit of another deal – this time, with Ukraine.
Bessent arrived in Ukraine on Wednesday to negotiate an agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the U.S. to gain access to Ukraine's stores of rare earth minerals in exchange for more U.S. aid.
The trip, and the deal it could produce, is in line with Trump's criticisms that the more-than-$65 billion the U.S. has given Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion as an unfair deal, saying the U.S. should receive something in return.
"The U.S. has spent BILLIONS of Dollars Globally, with little to show," Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing Bessent's visit on Tuesday.
Zelenskyy has said he is ready to offer up Ukraine's resources in exchange for more aid. But he stressed in a Sunday interview with British ITV that Trump "needs not just to end the war. He needs to act so that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has no chance to wage war on us again."
Early Wednesday morning, a volley of ballistic missiles tore into Kyiv in what local officials called the strongest attack on the city in weeks. Ukraine's air force said it shot down six of the seven missiles fired, but at least one person was killed and four were injured in the attack.
In a Tuesday interview with the Guardian, Zelenskyy offered a trade of territory with Russia to stop the fighting. "We will swap one territory for another," Zelenskyy said, adding that "all our territories are important, there is no priority."
But Peskov shot the idea down as "impossible."
"Russia has never discussed and will not discuss the exchange of its territory," he said.