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Watch live as UK defence secretary John Healey holds a press conference on Ukraine on Wednesday, 12 February, after the US appeared to rule out sending troops to peacekeep any ceasefire.
Mr Healey’s US counterpart, Pete Hegseth has said NATO membership for Ukraine is unrealistic and suggested that the way forward for the country was to abandon hopes of a return to its pre-2014 borders and prepare for a negotiated settlement with Russia.
Hegseth made the comments during the first trip to NATO and the Ukraine Defense Contact Group by a member of the new Trump administration. Allies have been waiting to hear how much continued military and financial support Washington intends to provide to Ukraine’s government.
What they heard was that Donald Trump is intent on getting Europe to assume the majority of the financial and military responsibilities for the defense of Ukraine — to include a possible peacekeeping force that would not include U.S. troops — and that Hegseth said should not have Article Five protections if those troops end up in contact with Russian forces.
Sir Keir Starmer has reiterated that Britain must put Ukraine in “the strongest possible position.”
He told MPs the government’s commitment to backing Kyiv matters “just as much as it mattered at the beginning of this conflict” amid uncertainty over the future of the war.
