This is an Illusory Goal: Pentagon Chief

The U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, who took office in late January, delivered his first speech at a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group held on February 12 in Brussels. A video of Hegseth's speech was released by Sky News.

The Secretary stated that U.S. President Donald Trump considers ending military operations and achieving peace between Russia and Ukraine a top priority. According to him, the Pentagon will assist in reaching that goal.

"We will end this devastating war and establish sustainable peace only by aligning our allies’ strength with a realistic assessment of the battlefield situation. Like you, we want a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But first, we must accept that returning to Ukraine’s borders as they were before 2014 is an unrealistic goal. Achieving this illusory target will only prolong the war and bring more suffering. Lasting peace for Ukraine must include reliable security guarantees to prevent the resumption of hostilities. This should not be Minsk 3.0 (referring to the Minsk agreements reached by Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France in February 2015)," stated Pete Hegseth.

He added that the U.S. does not view Ukraine's NATO membership as a "realistic outcome of negotiations," as claimed by the official Kyiv.