The Brussels planners imagined this completely different. The gathering of NATO abroad ministers held this week was to be a warm welcome to the fresh US administration. “We are counting on constructive dialog with Washington,” said 1 of the elder diplomats before the meeting. However, things were completely different.
New US Secretary of defence Peter Hegseth He wasn't in the temper for good words and diplomatic etiquette. As he said himself, he wanted to talk “in simple language”. And he did. NATO officials were amazed due to the fact that seemingly no 1 took into account his announcements. So he caused a small shock in the alliance.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte behind the scenes had his hands full. He had a hard nut to crack – he had to cool down his emotions while avoiding insulting the fresh US administration. The answers he gave to journalists were so mostly short and evasive.
When asked about Hegseth's claim that Ukraine's NATO membership cannot be part of the peace solution, Rutte responded in a general way. – Ukraine was never promised to become a NATO associate 1 day," he said. These were astonishing words – in respective NATO documents, Kiev was assured that its way to the alliance would be "irreversible".
Now for all NATO members, 1 thing is clear – Ukraine will not join its ranks in the next 30 years. And then most likely not. In 1 sentence, Hegseth buried the dreams of millions of Ukrainians.
On his first journey to Brussels in this position, Hegseth brought unopposed news. Firstly, he demanded a "fair burden sharing" in NATO and the creation of a fresh arms doctrine by Europeans.
Secondly, he made it clear that they must take work for safety on their continent. "The United States will no longer tolerate unsustainable relationships that foster dependency," he said. But he didn't say anything about American atomic umbrella over Europe.
However, he explained that Europeans would gotta supply most of the aid for the military and civilian reconstruction of Ukraine. This will most likely require a gigantic sum ranging from 500 billion to billion euro (from 2.1 trillion to 4 trillion PLN).
Hegseth's words are weighing on the shoulders of Europeans. Everyone has 1 question – where should they find the money?
Exchange of punches between Pistorius and Hegseth
Hegseth raised 1 more point. – We must start to admit that return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective – he said. This is undoubtedly the success of Vladimir Putin. According to Hegseth Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and most likely at least 3 another circuits in Donbasa, they should belong to Moscow in the future.
The German defence minister Boris Pistorius was seemingly very annoyed by Hegseth's statements. "From my point of view, it would be better to talk first about the possible membership of NATO and the possible failure of territory by this country at the negotiating table, alternatively than removing these issues from the table," he said.
Hegseth responded to Pistorius late on Thursday afternoon. He stated that designation of the fresh borders "was not a concession to Putin". “It’s just a designation of a hard force and reality policy in the field,” he said.
He added that lasting peace must include "strong safety guarantees to guarantee that war does not erupt again". They would should be liable for "the capable European and non-European troops". This means that the Americans will not send troops to Ukraine, as will NATO.
Washington may hope that the resignation of NATO and US troops to Ukraine will increase the chances of a UN mandate for a planned peace and stableness mission there.
From the Europeans' point of view, however, the Trump plan presented by Hegseth looks like a top-down one. – safety guarantees without America are not safety guarantees," said Volodymyr Zelenski. The Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson expressed the same opinion. "It is hard for me to imagine European peace forces without US participation," he said.
At least 120,000 soldiers
There are besides doubts in NATO that Europeans themselves will be able to meet the challenges facing them by the US. "Europeans cannot number on possible coalition troops, specified as Bangladesh, India or Ethiopia, to escape erstwhile the situation becomes serious," said a high-ranking general from 1 of the NATO countries.
In military circles it is said that a minimum of 120,000 soldiers would should be sent to Ukraine. And due to the fact that they should be rotated, 40,000 military men would be deployed there once. EU military officials estimation that Europeans will be able to supply "maximum 25 000 soldiers".
Poland has already announced that it will not participate in the operation. Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson besides did not confirm whether his country would participate in a possible peace mission in Ukraine. – It is hard to say at the moment, due to the fact that there are inactive so many question marks – he said.
It is besides unknown what powers soldiers stationed in Ukraine would have. Several high-ranking military representatives told the editorial board “Die Welt” that specified a stabilisation mission would not make sense without giving soldiers the right to intervene with dense weapons. But will Moscow agree to this?
