BRUSSELS (AP) — In just one speech by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week, the most powerful member of NATO has thrown the world’s biggest military alliance into disarray, raising troubling questions about America’s commitment to European security.

Hegseth told almost 50 of Ukraine ’s Western backers on Wednesday that he had joined their meeting “to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe.”

“The United States faces consequential threats to our homeland. We must — and we are — focusing on security of our own borders,” he said.

Reading the riot act to U.S. allies, Hegseth said that Ukraine will not get all its territory back from Russia and will not be allowed to join NATO, which would provide the ultimate security guarantee to ensure that Russian President Vladimir Putin never attacks it again.

He insisted NATO will not be involved in any future force that might be required to police the peace in Ukraine. European and other nations will, but the Europeans will have to pay for it. No American troops would take part in such an operation, he warned.

Beyond that, Hegseth said that NATO will not come to the rescue of any European nation involved in that force if it is attacked by Russia. It’s unclear what role the U.S. would play, if any, although Russia is sure to test the force’s resolve if America does not provide backup.

French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu said that NATO faces “a real moment of truth.”

“To say that it’s the biggest and most robust alliance in history is true, historically speaking. But the real question is will that still be the case in 10 or 15 years,” he said.

Founded in 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed by 12 nations to counter the threat to European security posed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Dealing with Moscow is in its DNA. Keeping the peace outside the Euro-Atlantic area is not.

NATO’s ranks have grown since the Washington Treaty was signed 75 years ago — to 32 countries after Sweden joined last year, worried by an increasingly aggressive Russia.

NATO’s collective security guarantee — Article 5 of the treaty — underpins its credibility.

It’s a political commitment by all member countries to come to the aid of any member whose sovereignty or territory might be under attack. Hegseth has now raised doubts about the U.S. commitment to that pledge, although he did say that his country is not planning to leave the alliance.

NATO’s doors are open to any European country that wants to join and can meet the requirements and obligations. Importantly, NATO takes its decisions by consensus, so every member has a veto. This week, Hegseth took Ukraine’s candidacy off the table.

The United States is the most powerful member. It spends much more on defense than any other ally and far outweighs its partners in terms of military muscle. So Washington drives the agenda. Hegseth’s speech, essentially saying “this is how it’s going to be,” was further proof.

NATO’s day-to-day work is led by former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

As NATO’s top civilian official, he chairs almost weekly meetings of ambassadors in the North Atlantic Council at its Brussels headquarters. He chairs other “NACs” at ministerial level and summits of heads of state and government. Rutte runs NATO HQ, tries to encourage consensus and speaks on behalf of all 32 members.

NATO’s military headquarters is based nearby in Mons, Belgium. It is always run by a top U.S. officer. The current supreme allied commander Europe is Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli.

What is NATO doing to help Ukraine?

Even though most allies believe that Russia could pose an existential threat to Europe, NATO itself is not arming Ukraine. As an organization, NATO possesses no weapons of any kind. Collectively, the alliance provides only non-lethal support — fuel, combat rations, medical supplies and body armor, as well as equipment to counter drones or mines.

But members do send arms on their own or in groups. European allies provided 60% of the military support that Ukraine received in 2024.

NATO has also helped Ukraine’s armed forces shift from Soviet-era military doctrine to modern thinking, and has strengthened Ukraine’s defense and security institutions.

Much of what NATO does for Ukraine, and indeed for global security, is misunderstood. Often the alliance is thought of as the sum of all U.S. relations with its European partners, from imposing sanctions and other costs on Russia to sending arms and ammunition.

But as an organization, its brief is limited to the defense by military means of its 32 member countries — the sacred Three Musketeers-like vow of all for one, one for all — and a commitment to help keep the peace in Europe and North America.

At least that was the case until this week.

Why has NATO stationed more troops on its European borders?

While some allies have left open the possibility of sending military personnel to Ukraine, NATO itself has no plans to do this, and Hegseth ended any speculation over whether it might.

But a key part of the commitment for allies to defend one another is to deter Russia, or any other adversary, from launching an attack in the first place. Finland and Sweden joined NATO recently because of this concern.

With the war in Ukraine soon to enter its fourth year, NATO has 500,000 military personnel on high readiness to counter any attack, whether it be on land, at sea, by air or in cyberspace.

Isn’t the U.S. doing the heavy lifting?

Due to high U.S. defense spending over many years, America’s armed forces benefit not only from greater troop numbers and superior weapons but also from significant transport and logistics assets.

Other allies are starting to spend more, though. After years of cuts, NATO members committed to ramp up their national defense budgets in 2014 when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

The aim was for each ally to be spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense within a decade. In 2023, they agreed to make 2% a spending floor, rather than a ceiling. A record 23 countries were expected reach that spending target last year, up from only three a decade ago.

But Rutte has said they will need to raise that to 3% or more.

France’s Lecornu claims that the wrangling over defense spending is “a false debate” as governments and parliaments across Europe are already approving more weapons purchases and bigger military budgets, all while arming Ukraine so it can defend itself.

BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic and in sweeping remarks suggested Kyiv should abandon hopes of winning all its territory back from Russia and instead prepare for a negotiated peace settlement to be backed up by international troops.

Hours later, President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin “negotiations” on ending the Ukraine war. In a social media post, the Republican disclosed a call between the two leaders and said they would “work together, very closely.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said Zelenskyy and Trump also had a phone conversation, which lasted about an hour.

Addressing allies eager to hear how much continued support Washington intends to provide to the Ukrainian government, Hegseth indicated that Trump is determined to get Europe to assume most of the financial and military responsibilities for the defense of Ukraine, including a possible peacekeeping force that would not include U.S. troops.

The defense secretary, making the first trip to NATO by a member of the new Trump administration, also said the force should not have Article 5 protections, which could require the U.S. or the 31 other nations of the NATO alliance to come to the aid of those forces if they end up in contact with Russian forces.

Hegseth’s stark message, and his insistence that Russia should keep some territory that Ukraine wants back, offered the closest look yet at how the administration might try to end the war.

The secretary’s comments were also sure to dim Ukraine’s hopes of making itself whole again and to complicate talks later this week between Zelenskyy and U.S. Vice President JD Vance and other senior American officials at a major security security conference in Munich.

“The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth said, as Kyiv’s backers gathered at NATO headquarters for a meeting to drum up more arms and ammunition for the war, which will soon enter its fourth year.

All 32 allies must agree for a country to join NATO, meaning that every member has a veto.

“Instead, any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops,” Hegseth said. “To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine.”

Hegseth insisted that NATO should play no role in any future military mission to police the peace in Ukraine and that any peacekeeping troops should not be covered by the part of NATO’s founding treaty that obliges all allies to come to the aid of any member under attack.

Article 5 has been activated only once, when European allies and Canada used the collective security guarantee to help the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks on New York and Washington.

Hegseth also said Europe “must provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine.” Ukraine currently relies equally on Europe and the U.S. for about 30% each of its defense needs. The rest is produced by Ukraine itself.

Speaking with the allies of Ukraine known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, he also insisted that Ukraine’s Western backers must abandon the “illusionary goal” of returning the country to its pre-2014 borders, before Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and seized parts of eastern Ukraine.

“Members of this contact group must meet the moment,” Hegseth said to the approximately 50 member countries that have provided support to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said Hegseth’s words would not go unheeded.

“We heard his call for European nations to step up. We are, and we will,” he said.

Healey underlined that “Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO. That is a process that will take some time.”

He also announced that Britain would provide Ukraine with a fresh $187 million “firepower package,” including drones, tanks and air-defense systems.

Over nearly three years, those 50 countries have collectively provided Ukraine with more than $126 billion in weapons and military assistance, including more than $66.5 billion from the U.S., which has served as the chair of the group since its creation.

Hegseth’s trip comes less than two weeks before the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. Most U.S. allies fear that Putin won’t stop at Ukraine’s borders if he wins, and that Europe’s biggest land war in decades poses an existential threat to their security.

Trump has promised to end the war quickly. He’s complained that it’s costing American taxpayers too much money and suggested that Ukraine should pay for U.S. support with access to its rare earth minerals, energy and other resources.

Hegseth in his remarks said that NATO member nations also need to significantly increase defense spending to 5% of their budgets — a high mark that the U.S. does not presently meet either.

“The United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependence. Rather, our relationship will prioritize empowering Europe to own responsibility for its own security,” Hegseth said.

European allies have hiked their military budgets since Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine, and 23 of them are estimated to have reached or exceeded last year’s target of spending 2% of gross domestic product, but a third still fall short.

Some U.S. allies worry that a hasty deal might be clinched on terms that aren’t favorable to Ukraine.

Before Hegseth spoke, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told The Associated Press that Putin will only negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine if its backers continue to provide enough weapons and ammunition.

“We have to make sure that he has no other option, and that means to force him to the table,” Rutte said. “He needs to understand that we will not give up on Ukraine. We have to make sure that we have maximum economic impact on Russia.”

Hegseth’s remarks come a day after American history teacher Marc Vogel returned safely to the U.S. after three years in a Russian prison. The White House suggested that his release could help to advance negotiations on ending the war.

Trump said another American, someone “very special,” would be released Wednesday, though he declined to name the person or say from what country.

Copp reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.