Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters on Friday that “the reality of U.S. troops in Ukraine is unlikely,” but insisted that there was “no daylight” between himself and Vice President JD Vance.
In a bilateral press conference with Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Hegseth touched on the possibility of U.S. troops going into Ukraine. At first, he appeared to shut down the idea, but then he seemed to not take it entirely off the table.
Hegseth added that he would “never put constraints around what the President of the United States would be willing to negotiate with the sovereign leaders of both Russia and Ukraine.”
On Thursday, in an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal, Vance said, “if you look at President Trump’s approach to this, the the range of options is extremely broad, and there are economic tools of leverage. There are of course, military tools of leverage. There’s a whole host of things that we could do. But fundamentally, I think the president wants to have a productive negotiation” with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Vance later elaborated in a post on X, which read in part, “President Trump is the ultimate deal maker and will bring peace to the region by ending the war in Ukraine. As we’ve always said, American troops should never be put into harm’s way where it doesn’t advance American interests and security. This war is between Russia and Ukraine.”
Vance has been in Germany for the Munich Security Conference, where he is expected to meet with Zelenskyy.
In his opening remarks to the group earlier this week, Hegseth said that rather than admitting Ukraine to NATO, security guarantees to the country would be supported “by capable European and non-European troops.” However, he also appeared to rule out the possibility of U.S. troops completely.
“To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine,” he said.
FORMER US AMBASSADOR TO NATO PREDICTS IMMINENT CEASEFIRE IN UKRAINE
At the Munich Security Conference, Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker, R-Ms., told Politico that he was “puzzled” and “disturbed” by Hegseth’s remarks in Brussels.
“Everybody knows … and people in the administration know you don’t say before your first meeting what you will agree to and what you won’t agree to,” Sen. Wicker told Politico, classifying Hegseth’s comments as a “rookie mistake.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Trump has long spoken about ending the war between Ukraine and Russia, often asserting that it would not have started had he been in the Oval Office.
On Wednesday, Trump announced that in a “lengthy and highly productive” phone call Putin agreed to “immediately” begin negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump said he asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to lead the negotiations, saying he thinks they “will be successful.”
Latest World News on Fox News
Read the full article .
