BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – Defense Secretary Pete Hegses on Thursday said in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News that he hasn't eliminated Ukrainian nuclear weapons, ultimately up to President Donald Trump.
“I'm not here to declare an off-table or off-off. That's not my job. That's the president's job. He's the leader, he's the master negotiator and the deal maker.” He said.
He said, “Some of us are there to help set certain types of conditions that could make the transaction more possible. That was what we tried to do here in the context of NATO. That's what it is.”
Ukrainian President Voldymir Zelensky I said Last week, Ukraine should be given NATO membership or nuclear weapons as a security guarantee against future Russian aggression as part of the peace agreement.
However, Hegseth on Wednesday outlined the US position ahead of negotiations, including that UKRAINE should not be offered NATO membership.
He also said that Ukraine's return to the border before 2014 was “unrealistic”, with US troops not deployed in Ukraine, and Ukraine's European peacekeeping forces could trigger Article 5 NATO He said it is not part of the mission. intervention.
Hegseth's remarks shattered some of Zelensky's important hopes. On February 4, the Ukrainian president said his country should be provided with NATO membership or nuclear weapons as a security guarantee against further Russian invasions.
If joining NATO would take “years” or “decades,” he said, “and then let them give us nuclear weapons.”
At a meeting of NATO allies and partners supporting Ukraine, Hegses' remarks stood firm behind Ukraine in the war with Russia, but Europe, which relied heavily on US leadership and financial and military support. It sent shockwaves and disappointment throughout. fight.
However, Hegseth stated that his statement should not be interpreted as a red line, but as the reality of the situation.
“I'm not declaring a red line or not. We're working with the president when we're experiencing these issues, but I believed that just talking about reality in the conversation would be useful.” he said. “In the end, President Trump is the only person who will determine if there is wiggling or movement in a particular position.”
He said his remarks did not mean that Ukraine would not be able to participate in NATO in the future.
“I thought yesterday, in consultation with the senior White House leader and the president's oval office, what I made clear was the reality that NATO membership didn't take into account the reality of our location. No one has thrown stocks into the ground 25 years from now or for a defined period,” he said.
“If you want negotiated peace, if you want a ceasefire, if you want a ceasefire, you want a realistic opportunity to endure peace, right now, that's not on the card. It's not on the card. It's definitive It's not that it's not a value statement.”
He said Trump is a deal maker who lives “in the real world.”
“You can talk about things in an ideal world, you can talk about things in the real world, and that's where President Trump is,” he said.
He said criticism that Trump's negotiations with Russia is a sign of weakness is “just wrong, and the opposite of that face.”
“The reason Vladimir Putin and Zelensky are at the table is because of the strength of the US, because of President Trump. It didn't happen under Joe Biden. It didn't happen for years,” he said. said:
Putin knows that President Trump is strong, so this invasion would never have happened under President Trump in the first place. In 2014, Vladimir Putin invaded under Obama. Nothing happened under Trump for four years, but in 2022, an invasion will be obtained under Joe Biden.
President Trump is elected, he shows up and the conversation changes completely. This is what if you want to have an inexpensive kind of anti-trump argument that in some way this looks like a weakness, this takes cards from the table, then that's it – cheap shots from cheap seats – in the realm of reality, refined We are not seriously engaged in what the high-level negotiations actually look like.
“[Trump] Heggs said. “One thing you have to know from President Trump is that he is always negotiating from a strength standpoint. He stepped into the deal and didn't fold. He walked, We'll make incentives from both sides and be honest about those incentives.”
He also returned to critics who say that a peacekeeping mission not under NATO's umbrella would not stop Putin.
“It's kind of a cheap and simple argument. …It comes from the same people who don't present new ideas. …What are your thoughts – an endless trench war?”
Heggs said his role in the negotiations was a “sliver” of a comprehensive approach led by Trump.
“You'll go and see some of the conversations our Treasury Secretary had. And with Zelensky, I think I'll show interest in American investment and Ukraine. But I'll say, “We I love you, so we'll support you.”
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