00:00Well, Robin, Pete Hegseth, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, speaking here at NATO headquarters
00:06in Brussels, says that Donald Trump is the best negotiator in the world.
00:12In response to that and the concerns that any potential peace deal could be reached
00:18between the U.S. and Russia directly, well, there's been plenty of cold water thrown on
00:23that by, namely, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky rejecting the notion of any kind
00:29of peace settlement without Kyiv's involvement.
00:32That has been a point reiterated by a number of Ukraine's allies speaking here at NATO
00:38headquarters, including Kaya Kallis, the EU's top diplomat.
00:42Also on the issue of some of the potential concessions made, well, the Trump administration
00:48says that they don't see Ukraine's future in NATO.
00:52They also say they want, it is unrealistic to see a return to the borders back in 2014.
00:59That too has garnered a strong reaction from EU officials.
01:03Kaya Kallis says that appeasement never works.
01:06We've also heard from Germany's defense minister, Boris Pistorius, who says that he regrets
01:12these concessions, saying that any kind of bargaining chips, they should be saved for
01:17the negotiating table and not in these precursor conversations.
01:22And will the United States again pushing NATO to spend more on defense?
01:32Robin, this has been a central issue for Donald Trump, from a point that he's been making
01:37long before he even assumed the presidency a second time around.
01:41This time, though, he has put a figure on how much he wants to see NATO's allies spending
01:47on defense.
01:48The current benchmark for NATO allies is 2% of annual GDP to be spent on defense.
01:54However, Donald Trump wants to see that figure hit 5%.
01:58Essentially the message from the Trump administration is that Ukraine especially is a conflict on
02:04Europe's doorstep and that they should be doing more of the defense capabilities and
02:09stop using Washington as a shield.
02:14That was a point reiterated by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth here in Brussels.
02:19The war in Ukraine, the aggression by Russia, has been a factory reset for NATO, a realization
02:26that this alliance needs to be robust and strong and real.
02:31And that's why President Trump has called for increased defense spending across the
02:35board for NATO, for European countries to recognize this is an urgent, real threat to
02:40the continent.
02:41This aggression needs to be a wake-up call.
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