Pentagon chief says Trump's plan to end war not a betrayal of Ukrainian soldiers

President Donald Trump's plan to end the war is not a betrayal of Ukrainian soldiers who gave their lives defending Ukraine. The United States is interested in a negotiated peace.

This was stated by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Gegseth before a meeting of NATO defense ministers, reports UNN.

My role as the U.S. representative is to talk realistically about the course of this conflict. And I think you saw yesterday from President Trump, who himself is the best negotiator on the planet, how he's bringing the two sides together to find a negotiated peace, which is ultimately what everybody wants. So I look forward to today's ministerial meeting with our NATO allies to have an honest conversation about where we are, but to bring peace to the continent, to ensure that Europe comes forward in leadership, in leadership in terms of security guarantees, and to ensure that America stands with our NATO allies to ensure that we stay strong and that this conflict ends

When asked if the U.S. plan for Ukraine isn't really a betrayal of all those Ukrainian soldiers who gave their lives defending their country and isn't it just a reward to dictators who use little power to take what they want, Gegseth replied, “Well, that's your language, not mine. Of course it's not treason.

As I told our allies yesterday, we recognize the incredible commitment that we have made over the years. And no country, as President Trump pointed out, has made a greater commitment to the Ukraine mission than the United States of America, over $300 billion.

Gegseth said that by doing so, the U.S. has invested in stabilizing the front lines after russia's aggression.

There's no betrayal in that. There is a recognition that the whole world and the U.S. is invested and interested in peace, negotiated peace, as President Trump said, stopping the killing. And so it's going to require both sides to recognize what they don't want to. That's why I think the world is lucky that we have President Trump. He's the only one at this moment who can convene the powers that be to bring peace. And that's a welcome sign

He noted that his job as defense secretary working alongside NATO is to ensure that NATO's defense capabilities are as strong and robust as they can be to deter any future aggression on the continent.

That's our role, to be leaders in NATO, and that's what we will continue to do

Supplement

  On February 12, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that U.S. President Donald Trump has a plan to end the war. America would like to conclude an economic cooperation agreementand in exchange for this agreement, the USA will continue to provide material support to Ukraine.

 President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the USA had handed the Ukrainian team a draft agreement on natural resources. Ukraine wants to study this document in order to fix the agreementsin Munich.

 On the same day, February 12, Trump announced a “productive” phone conversation with Putin, where they discussed the war in Ukraine and other topics. The two sides agreed to begin talks and visits to each other.

 Also, Trump announced plans to meet with Putin in Saudi Arabia.  On February 12, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump also had a phone conversation. The presidents discussed the possibilities of peace, technological opportunities, and Trump informed about the details of his conversation with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.  

OP leader Yermack noted that Zelensky and Trump agreed to immediately launch teams to end the war.