NATO defense ministers are set to meet Thursday in Brussels to discuss defense spending targets, boosting their industrial capacity and their support to Ukraine.
The ministerial meeting comes amid a U.S. push for NATO allies to commit more of their domestic budgets to defense.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte expressed support for the U.S. position ahead of the talks, saying if allies do not spend more, then they will not have the necessary deterrents against foes such as Russia in place.
Rutte also is urging allies to work on boosting defense production capacities in order to boost stockpiles and to be able to provide more for Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion that began in early 2022.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group Wednesday that while the U.S. wants a “sovereign and prosperous Ukraine,” allies must recognize that going back to the Ukrainian borders that existed before Russia moved into Crimea in 2014 is an “unrealistic objective.”
Hegseth advocated for a negotiated end to the war with security guarantees backed by European and non-European troops that are deployed under a non-NATO mission. He ruled out deploying any U.S. troops to Ukraine.
Following Thursday’s NATO ministerial, Hegseth heads to Poland for what the Pentagon said will be talks with leaders about “bilateral defense cooperation, continued deterrence efforts along NATO’s eastern flank, and Poland’s leadership as a model ally in defense investment and burden-sharing in NATO.”
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press