Donald Trump’s administration says it believes Ukraine’s hopes of forcing Russia out of occupied territory are ‘unrealistic’. Ukraine has reiterated its plea that no peace deal is possible if it is forced to give up territory to Russia, after the US said supporting Kyiv to retake occupied land was “unrealistic”. US defence secretary Pete Hegseth signaled a dramatic shift in American military policy towards Europe during a speech in Brussels on Wednesday.
“We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine,” Mr Hegseth said. “But we must start by recognising that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.". This marks a stark turn from the previous Joe Biden administration’s support for Ukraine to eject Russian forces from its land completely.
The hardline stance under the Trump regime has already faced backlash, with accusations that the US is “betraying” Ukraine. “There must be no compromise at the expense of Ukrainian territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha told French publication Le Monde. “It is important to understand that Ukrainian security and transatlantic security are indivisible.”.
Russia currently occupies a little under 20 per cent of Ukraine, including parts of four regions of mainland Ukraine, as well as the Crimean peninsula. Mr Putin first invaded Ukraine in 2014, when he illegally annexed Crimea. It is widely believed he then ordered unmarked soldiers known as “little green men” to fight on behalf of Russia in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. In February 2022, he then ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, reportedly hoping to take the country in just three days.
After being pushed back from Kyiv and northeastern Ukraine, the latest iteration of Mr Putin’s land grab focused on the four regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. In September 2022, he illegally annexed these four regions, none of which are completely controlled by Russian forces. He has since repeatedly claimed that he will only agree to end his invasion of Ukraine if Kyiv cedes these four regions to him.
