The president also said he foresaw a ceasefire “in the not too distant future”.
Zelensky characterised his phone call with Trump as a meaningful conversation and said he was grateful to the US president for his interest. “No one wants peace more than Ukraine,” Zelensky posted on X. “As President Trump said, let’s get it done.”
The exchanges came as Hegseth confirmed the new administration’s position in emphatic terms to a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, while also stressing the US was too busy staving off China’s aggression in the Pacific to prioritise European matters.
Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth addresses the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Brussels.Credit: AP
“We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognising that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,” he said. “Chasing this illusory goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”
Zelensky had already said he is willing to cede some territory to Russia but indicated this would need to be accompanied by NATO membership and a NATO military presence in Ukraine to fend off any future Russian aggression.
Confirmed: Tulsi Gabbard to be Director of National Intelligence.Credit: AP
In 2014, Putin began backing separatists in the eastern part of the country and annexed the Crimea peninsula, although most countries still recognise it as part of Ukraine. Zelensky has said Ukraine will not take back the territory militarily, but hopes to regain it by diplomatic means.
While the Trump administration wanted robust security guarantees for Ukraine, “the United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement”, Hegseth said.
“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.”
That article, a core tenet of the treaty, states that an attack on any member state is considered an attack on all, compelling assistance from all members. “To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be US troops deployed to Ukraine,” Hegseth said.
Donald Trump welcomed American schoolteacher Marc Fogel to the White House after securing his release from a Russian prison.Credit: AP
Wednesday’s phone call between Trump and Putin was the first official exchange between the two men that Trump has confirmed since returning to the White House, but he has hinted at other calls.
On the weekend, he told The New York Post’s Miranda Devine he had spoken with the Russian president but would not confirm how many times. “I’d better not say,” he reportedly said.
The US also secured the release of an American schoolteacher, Marc Fogel, who had been imprisoned in Russia for four years. Fogel flew home to the US on Tuesday and met Trump and other dignitaries at the White House that evening. Trump was coy about what the deal involved, but the Kremlin since said a Russian prisoner was being released from the US.
On the US side, the Ukraine negotiations will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA director John Ratcliffe, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff.
In Brussels, Hegseth also reiterated Trump’s insistence that NATO members spend 5 per cent of their gross domestic product on defence, something only Poland comes close to doing. Spending more on defence was “a down-payment on peace through strength”, he said.
“Stark strategic realities” prevented the US from focusing on the security of Europe, Hegseth told the meeting, saying China had the capability and intent to threaten the US at home and through its core interests in the Indo-Pacific.
Britain’s Defence Secretary John Healey and Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umerov at the Brussels meeting.Credit: AP
“The US is prioritising deterring war with China in the Pacific, recognising the reality of scarcity and making the resourcing tradeoffs to ensure deterrence does not fail,” he said. “As the United States prioritises its attention to these threats, European allies must lead from the front.”
While the US remained committed to the NATO alliance, it “will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency”, Hegseth said. He did not take questions.
Speaking directly afterwards, British Defence Secretary John Healey said members of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group heard his message clearly and were determined to end Putin’s war.
“On stepping up for Ukraine, we are and we will. On stepping up for European security, we are, and we will,” he said.
Separately, in a development the Kremlin will mark as a victory, former Democratic congresswoman turned Trump acolyte Tulsi Gabbard was confirmed by the Senate as Trump’s pick to run US intelligence services.
Gabbard was confirmed 52-48 in a vote along party lines except for a single Republican holdout, the former Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell from Kentucky.
Gabbard has flirted with Kremlin propaganda and expressed sympathy for Russia and Syria, and during her confirmation hearing she refused invitations to describe Edward Snowden as a traitor for leaking classified information about US intelligence operations.
McConnell said Gabbard had shown “a history of alarming lapses in judgment”. Other Republicans who had raised concerns about Gabbard ultimately fell into line and endorsed her appointment.
Wavering Republicans faced an intense political pressure campaign from Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, who threatened to support primary opponents of any Republican who obstructed nominees.
Asked about McConnell’s decision, a White House spokeswoman said Trump was greatly disappointed in any Republican who opposed his “exceptionally qualified” candidates. “We expect all Republicans to vote, to stay tough and strong,” she said.
