BRUSSELS (AN) – NATO defense ministers and leaders warned that Ukraine and Europe must be part of any peace negotiations on ending Russia's war in Ukraine.
At a meeting of 32 defense meetings in NATO headquarters on Thursday, European leaders were indignant at U.S.-Russia talks that excluded Ukraine. “There can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine," U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey told reporters.
Newly confirmed U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attended his first NATO meeting, where officials discussed how to increase defense spending. Trump challenged the alliance's members to each spend 5% of GDP, up from the current 2% target goal. NATO member nations collectively spend 2.71% of GDP on defense. The U.S. spends about 3.4% of its GDP on defense.
But the spotlight was on a rapid series of U.S.-related developments about ending the Ukraine war that began in Feb. 2014 and greatly escalated with Russia's full-scale invasion in Feb. 2022.
First, Hegseth suggested Ukraine should give up hopes for winning back all of the territory that Russia has captured and said NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic. He said he foresees a negotiated peace settlement monitered by international troops.
Then Trump disclosed he had agreed to "immediately" start peace talks and to "work together, very closely" with Russia's President Vladimir Putin, based on a phone call between the two leaders.
Need for durable peace, not 'Minsk III'
Hegseth insisted the U.S. was not betraying Ukraine, and he rejected the argument that "coming to the table right now" is equivalent to "making concessions" to Putin.
"I challenge anyone else to think of a world leader at this moment who, with credibility and strength, could bring those two leaders to the table and forge a durable peace that ultimately serves the interests of Ukraine," Hegseth said.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, however, told reporters that "it would have been better to talk about Ukraine's possible NATO membership or the country's possible loss of territory at the negotiating table first and not take it off the table beforehand."
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters that "all allies and Ukraine are united in their desire for peace in Ukraine. We all agree that we need to put Ukraine in the best possible position for negotiations."
Rutte called for a peace deal that goes far beyond Minsk I and Minsk II, both made in the Belarusian capital.
Minsk I was a the 12-point ceasefire deal between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists in Sept. 2014. Minsk II was a 13-point agreement between Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, and leaders of two pro-Russian separatist regions in Feb. 2015.
Neither agreement stopped the fighting. "We need a durable a lasting peace, not a Minsk III," said Rutte. "We cannot allow President Putin to win."
Rutte said the Western military alliance agreesd with Hegseth's assertion that the peace agreement must be "durable," but defense leaders also were united in believing that Ukraine should be at the negotiating table.
"What we are clearly united about is that, first of all, we have to make sure that when talk starts, Ukraine is in the best possible position," said Rutte. "And obviously this is about Ukraine, so Ukraine will be involved in any way whatsoever."
