Brussels-more NATO-Allied emphasized on Thursday that Ukraine and Europe must not be abolished from any peace negotiations when US defense secretary Pete Hegseth denied that the United States is betraying the war-prepared country.

European governments roll after the Trump administration signaled that it is planning face to face with Russia After quitting the Ukraine war without involving them, Kiev would not join NATO and said that it is up to Europe to protect himself and Ukraine from what Russia can do thereafter.

“There may be no negotiation on Ukraine but Ukraine. And Ukraine’s voice must be at the heart of all calls,” the British defense secretary John Healey told reporters at the NATO head office, as the organization’s 32 defense ministers met for conversations about Ukraine.

The German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said: “For me it is clear … that Europe must be involved in the negotiations – and I think it is very easy to understand,” especially if Europe is “supposed to play a central or lead role in peace order.”

Europe “will have to live directly” with the consequences, he added.

Hegseth denied that the United States has betrayed Ukraine by starting negotiations on its future without Kiev’s full commitment. After talking with Putin and then Zelenskyy, Trump said on Wednesday that he “probably” would meet personally with the Russian leader in the short term, possibly in Saudi Arabia.

“There is no storage there. There is a recognition of the whole world and the United States being invested and is interested in peace. A negotiated peace,” Hesth told reporters.

The European Union Foreign Policy Chief, Kaja called, expressed surprise that Hegseth and Trump had listed what seemed to be concessions for Russia even before the conversations have started in earnest.

“We should not take anything from the table before the negotiations have even started, because it plays to Russia’s court,” she said. “Why do we give them everything they want even before the negotiations have started? It is satisfaction. It has never worked.”

Hegseth warned that the war in Ukraine must “be an alarm clock” for NATO’s European allies to spend more on their own defense budgets.

Twenty -three of the 32 member states were estimated to have fulfilled the organization’s guideline to spend 2% of the gross domestic product on their national defense budgets last year, but a third still does not.

But Hegseth’s French counterpart, Sébastien Lecornu, described the complaint about major defense spending as “a false debate”, saying that governments and parliaments throughout Europe are already approving more weapons purchases and larger military budgets while Ukraine helps Ukraine to avert an invasion.

Lecornu warned that NATO’s future is now being questioned.

“To say that it is the largest and most robust alliance in history is true, historically. But the real question is that it is still the case in 10 or 15 years,” he said after the United States – by far NATO’s largest and most powerful member – Signaled that its security priorities are elsewhere, including in Asia.

NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte, who was chairman of Thursday’s meeting, said that regardless of agreement that is made between Russia and Ukraine, it is crucial that “the peace agreement is enduring, that Putin knows that this is the end, that he can never try to try for to catch a piece of ukraine. “

Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson talked about Europe’s investment in Ukraine and said that European countries provided about 60% of military support to Kiev last year and must be involved, especially given that Europe takes more responsibility for Ukraine’s security in the longer term.

His Estonian counterpart, Hanno Pevkur, emphasized that the European Union has driven the sanctions against Russia, has invested heavily in Ukraine’s defense and will be urged to pay the bill to rebuild the war -brought country.

“We have to be there. So there is no question about it. Otherwise, this peace will not be long -lasting,” Pevkur warned.