U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has said that a potential peacekeeping mission that could be deployed to Ukraine as part of security guarantees will not include U.S. troops.
He stated this at the beginning of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Brussels, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
“Any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops. If these troops are deployed as peacekeepers to Ukraine at any point, they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission and they should not be covered under Article 5,” the Pentagon chief said.
He added: “There will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine”.
At the same time, Hegseth said that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an “unrealistic objective”, adding that “chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering”.
“A durable peace for Ukraine must include robust security guarantees to ensure that the war will not begin again. This must not be Minsk 3.0,” the U.S. Secretary of Defense said.
As reported, a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group is taking place in Brussels.
Photo: Pete Hegseth / Facebook
Source: Pentagon chief says U.S. will not deploy its troops to Ukraine as part of peacekeeping mission
