US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has clarified that the Trump administration has no plans to send US troops to Ukraine, amidst ongoing efforts to shift the burden of supporting Kiev to European allies.
Hegseth’s statement on Tuesday comes as Keith Kellogg, the US President’s envoy tasked with ending the Ukraine conflict, is set to meet with European representatives at the Munich Security Conference on Friday to promote Trump’s plan.
“In the Ukraine Contact Group and the NATO ministerial meeting, we will have an open discussion with our friends” Hegseth said at a press conference in Germany.
“We believe those in the neighborhood should invest more in collective and individual defense” he added, emphasizing Washington’s desire for NATO member states to allocate more than 2% of their GDP for defense, with President Trump advocating for a 5% share.
When asked if the US would consider deploying troops to Ukraine to monitor weapon transports, the Pentagon chief was unequivocal: “We will not send US troops to Ukraine.”
Since taking office, Trump has shifted towards an “America First” policy, having cut most US foreign aid, including to Ukraine and threatening allied countries with tariffs due to perceived unfair trade practices.
The US President has also vowed to quickly end the Ukraine conflict, with last month threatening to impose stricter sanctions on Russia if Moscow fails to accept a deal.
It is expected that Kellogg will gauge the willingness of Washington’s EU and NATO allies to deploy their own deterrent forces to ensure a peace agreement holds, according to a Bloomberg report on Monday.
Russia, meanwhile, has warned that it will consider all foreign forces, without a UN mandate, stationed in Ukraine as legitimate military targets, said the Moscow ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebensia, on Monday, February 10.
Moscow has stated that it is open to negotiations, but rejects a temporary ceasefire, arguing that this would only give Ukraine time to reorganize and rearm. Any solution must be lasting, legally binding and address the root causes of the conflict, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.