Trump's peace push 'not a betrayal' of Ukraine, Hegseth says

euronews (in English)

The US Secretary of Defence sought to clarify that his country was invested in peace after Trump explosively announced talks were to begin after speaking with Putin.

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00:00U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth denied that the U.S. is betraying Ukraine, following

00:09comments that Ukraine should not join NATO and that it's up to Europe to protect itself

00:13and Ukraine from Russian aggression.

00:17Ahead of a meeting with NATO allies in Brussels on Thursday, he reiterated his call that Ukraine

00:22should prepare for a negotiated peace settlement and abandon hope to gain back all its territory

00:27from Russia.

00:28There is no betrayal there.

00:31There is a recognition that the whole world and the United States is invested and interested

00:36in peace, a negotiated peace.

00:40As President Trump has said, stopping the killing.

00:43And so that will require both sides recognizing things they don't want to.

00:48In response to the announcement from the Trump administration, NATO Chief Mark Rutte urged

00:53the group's European allies to significantly ramp up their own defense spending.

00:58We have to ramp up defense spending because we know we cannot protect ourselves four or

01:04five years from now if we don't.

01:06And also we need to ramp up defense spending because it is clear that U.S. rightly requires

01:12us to do more here on the European side and the Canadian side of NATO.

01:17It's only fair.

01:18It's only sensible.

01:19Rutte and several other NATO allies are insisting that Ukraine and Europe must not be cut out

01:24of any peace negotiations, after Trump signaled that he would hold face-to-face talks soon

01:30with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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