Washington (dpa-Afx)-US defense minister Pete Hegseth does not want the framework conditions he mentioned for a possible peace deal in the Ukraine War as final. In the negotiations on the end of the Russian war of aggression, President Donald Trump has the last word for the US side, Hegseth said after a meeting with his counterparts from the NATO countries in Brussels, when asked why the United States does not NATO peace force in the Ukraine wanted. “President Trump is conducted these negotiations. Everything is on the table.”
In the end, Trump alone decides on the conditions of the United States, emphasized the Pentagon boss. “Under no circumstances does something of what I say here (…) that we restrict the commander -in -chief in his negotiations,” he said. “He has all the cards in his hand.”
Also when asked whether he could guarantee that Ukraine will not ultimately be forced a deal that the country does not want at all, he said: “Ultimately, this is not my decision.” The president conducts negotiations and speak to both sides. “Nobody will get everything he wants.”
He could only talk about what is realistic or likely. And it is only a realism to point out that the Ukrainian borders cannot be reset to the 2014 state of 2014. This is not a concession to Russia, but a recognition of reality.
The announcements to Ukraine
Hegseth had publicly presented the day before in Brussels in detail how the Trump government would face the end of Russia’s war of attack against Ukraine. “The United States does not believe that NATO membership of Ukraine is a realistic result of a negotiating solution,” he said there. The return to the Ukrainian borders before 2014 is also unrealistic. In addition, the Europeans are largely only in the obligation to support Ukraine and to secure peace militarily. “No US troops are sent to Ukraine,” emphasized Hegseth and excluded NATO.
Shortly afterwards Trump announced that he was with the Russian president Vladimir Putin I called – and then also with the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj. So the US President came into discussions about Ukraine and an end of the war without the European allies. He is also planning an early meeting with Putin./Jac/dp/jha