NATO meeting: Defense spending, ceasefire and U.S.

CGTN Europe

European leaders have insisted that Europe, alongside Ukraine, must be involved in any peace talks with Russia.  NATO defense ministers have met in Brussels.  CGTN’s Will Denselow breaks down what happened.

Transcript

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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