MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The White House says it's making progress on ending the war in Ukraine. President Trump held calls with both the presidents of Russia and Ukraine today, and his secretary of defense is in Brussels discussing the path forward with allies. Pete Hegseth was at NATO headquarters for the first time, at a meeting about providing military supplies to Ukraine. He explained that U.S. support for both NATO allies and for Ukraine will be changing, as Teri Schultz reports from Brussels.
TERI SCHULTZ, BYLINE: U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth came to NATO headquarters emphasizing that President Trump was looking to end Russia's war on Ukraine and to preserve what he called a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But to do that, the defense secretary warned, there would be some harsh implications for Kyiv.
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PETE HEGSETH: We must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.
SCHULTZ: In other words, it appears the U.S. is saying Russian President Vladimir Putin should be allowed to keep most of the Ukrainian land he's seized in violation of international law in annexing Crimea a decade ago and since the full-scale invasion three years ago. That's an idea that's been mentioned occasionally as a potential worst-case scenario for Kyiv or a temporary one but not something touted as a solution.
Hegseth said Europeans would have to provide most of the weapons for Ukraine going forward. And then after a ceasefire agreement is reached, Hegseth said, the U.S. would neither contribute to any peacekeeping force on the ground, nor let NATO's Article 5 security guarantees protect those troops in case of attack. And there was more.
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HEGSETH: The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.
SCHULTZ: This despite the fact that all NATO allies, including the U.S., have agreed that Ukraine will become a member of NATO over Vladimir Putin's objections. This is how NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte put it in December.
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MARK RUTTE: That is an irreversible path to NATO membership. And it's also clear for me, and I think for all allies, that Putin has no vote and no veto on Ukrainian membership of NATO.
SCHULTZ: But former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says the positions Hegseth has just articulated, which could be the starting point for Trump-brokered talks between Putin and Zelenskyy, seem to change all the parameters.
GABRIELIUS LANDSBERGIS: Irreversibility sounds like an empty promise now. And honestly, it doesn't look like very much of negotiation. It looks more like an ultimatum to Ukraine to accept the situation with no real security guarantees, no NATO Article 5, no troops on the ground.
SCHULTZ: He says that would leave Ukraine vulnerable to new attacks. For a front-line country like Lithuania, which borders Russia, that's a matter of its own national security. Fortunately for Lithuania, it has NATO security guarantees. But Landsbergis says he's worried how much those are worth if the alliance doesn't stand behind its promises to help Ukraine fight Russia and to let it eventually join.
LANDSBERGIS: It is a test how NATO will function and a test to NATO's credibility.
SCHULTZ: He hopes, at the very least, the Nordic and Baltic countries will band together and maintain support for Kyiv. But in the meantime, Landsbergis says, he's sure there are champagne corks popping in the Kremlin. For NPR News, I'm Teri Schultz, at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
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