Trump won’t let Europe turn Uncle Sam into ‘Uncle Sucker’, US defence chief says
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth defended Trump’s Ukraine negotiations with Putin and urged allies to ‘make Nato great again’
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has rejected criticism of Washington’s negotiating strategy with Russia on the war in Ukraine. Hegseth announced earlier that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders was unrealistic and that the Trump administration did not see Nato membership for Kyiv as part of a solution to the war triggered by Russia’s 2022 invasion. In a press conference at Nato headquarters in Brussels on February 13, 2025, the US defence chief warned Europe against treating America like a “sucker” by making it responsible for the continent’s defence, saying that Europe should be primarily responsible for its own defence.