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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled to Belgium last week to participate in the Ukraine Defense Contact Group -- a gathering of officials from countries supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia. He delivered there a clear and rational explanation of the Trump administration's policy on this conflict.

"The bloodshed must stop," he said. "And this war must end."

He then argued it was not realistic to believe Russia could be forced to surrender all the territory it has occupied in Ukraine.

"We will only end this devastating war -- and establish a durable peace -- by coupling allied strength with a realistic assessment of the battlefield," said Hegseth. "We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognizing 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."

Hegseth also indicated the administration did not support bringing Ukraine into NATO.

"That said, the United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement," he said.

Nor would U.S. troops be deployed as a peacekeeping force there.

"To be clear," said Hegseth, "as part of any security guarantee, there will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine."

"Safeguarding European security must be an imperative for European members of NATO," he said. "As part of this Europe must provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine."

American taxpayers have already provided a massive amount of aid to the Ukrainian cause.

"[A]s of May 2024," said a Government Accountability Office report published on January 28, "a series of five Ukraine supplemental appropriation acts provided $174.2 billion to help combat Russian aggression and to preserve Ukraine's territorial integrity. The Department of Defense (DOD) received more than 60 percent of that supplemental funding -- $110.7 billion -- for security assistance to Ukraine and for activities to assure allies and deter further Russian aggression."

This $174.2 billion the United States has spent to help Ukraine counter Russian aggression equals $1,073 for each of the 162,347,000 people who were employed in the United States in January.

In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed a very different point of view than the one expressed by Hegseth -- including suggesting that Putin would go to war against NATO. "Knowing that he did not succeed in occupying us, we do not know where he will go," said Zelenskyy. "There are risks that this can be Poland and Lithuania because we believe -- we believe that Putin will wage war against NATO."

He also expressed opposition to ceding any territory to Russia -- unless, perhaps, Ukraine were admitted to NATO.

"Are you willing to say here that you are prepared to formally cede some of the sovereign territory of Ukraine to Russia in order to stop the killing?" NBC's Kristen Welker asked Zelenskyy.

"Judicially ... it's out of constitution to recognize our occupied territory like territory of Russia," Zelenskyy said. "We will never do it."

"Even Crimea ..." asked Welker.

"No, yeah, even Crimea," said Zelensky. "We will never recognize it, because in years, in years, all things, all things which are Ukrainian will be Ukrainian, but maybe, I don't know when. But yes, we have to return it diplomatically. Yes, we can. If we are in NATO, it's understandable why diplomatically, it's very understandable. And, of course, not to lose people."

President Donald Trump spoke last Wednesday with Putin by phone. He summarized the call in a posting on Truth Social.

"I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia," Trump said. "We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects."

"But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine," said Trump.

"We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now.

"I have 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 which, I feel strongly, will be successful," Trump said.

"No more lives should be lost!" he said.

Rubio, Waltz and Witkoff met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov.

After the meeting, a reporter asked Rubio: "Did you walk away from this meeting convinced the Russians want peace? You said it might take some time to be convinced of that?"

"I think diplomacy ultimately is based on actions. It's based on commitments that are kept," said Rubio. "I came away today convinced that they are willing to begin to engage in a serious process to determine how, how quickly, and through what mechanism can an end be brought to this war. Whether we can ultimately reach that outcome will obviously depend on every side in this conflict's willingness to agree to certain things."

At least this much is certain: Trump has made a solid first step toward peace in Ukraine.

To find out more about Terence P. Jeffrey and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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