Head of the Pentagon: "The United States will not deploy American troops in Ukraine"

American troops will not be deployed on the territory of Ukraine as a guarantee of Kiev's security. This was stated by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth at a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group defense ministers in Brussels in the "Rammstein" format.

According to him, a mission involving European and non-European troops without NATO sponsorship could provide guarantees for Ukraine's security.

"Let me be clear: American troops will not be deployed on the territory of Ukraine as part of any security guarantees," Hegseth said.

According to him, a lasting peace can be achieved by providing “reliable security guarantees that will ensure that war does not resume.” He stressed that Ukraine’s membership in NATO would not be a realistic outcome of a diplomatic solution to the conflict, and said that security guarantees for Ukraine should be reinforced by “combat-capable European or non-European military personnel.”

“If these troops are ever deployed in Ukraine as peacekeepers, they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission and Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty should not apply to them,” he said, referring to the alliance’s mutual defense clause.

Speaking at the Ramstein format meeting, the politician also assessed the possibility of returning Ukraine to the borders that existed before 2014 as unrealistic.

On February 12, the 26th meeting of the Ramstein format’s Ukraine Contact Group was held in Brussels. For the first time, the meeting is chaired by Great Britain instead of the United States.

The Times newspaper, citing sources, reports that the decision to hand over the chairmanship of the meeting to the British was made by the new US administration. The sources attributed this to the fact that Washington has not yet announced an official position on Ukraine and a policy document on providing military assistance to it.

News