U.S. denies Trump peace push a 'betrayal' of Ukraine

by Max DELANY

Donald Trump's defense chief denied Thursday the US president was betraying Ukraine by opening talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin, as blindsided European powers insisted they and Kyiv must have a seat at the table.

Trump on Wednesday stunned European allies by agreeing to launch negotiations with Moscow on ending the nearly three-year Ukraine war, in his first publicly announced phone call with Putin since returning to power.

The US president revealed he expected to meet Putin in Saudi Arabia for Ukraine peace talks, in an extraordinary thaw in relations that sparked fears Kyiv would be frozen out.

That came after his administration poured cold water on Ukraine's goals of reclaiming all its territory and pushing to join NATO's protective umbrella.

"There is no betrayal there. There is a recognition that the whole world and the United States is invested and interested in peace," US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said ahead of a meeting with his NATO counterparts in Brussels.

"That will require both sides recognizing things they don't want to."

Trump, who has been pushing for a quick end to the war, denied that Ukraine was being excluded from the direct negotiations between the two nuclear-armed superpowers.

The Kremlin said the talks with Putin lasted nearly one-and-a-half hours and that both leaders agreed the "time has come to work together".

After speaking to Putin, the US president then called Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and shared details of his talks with the Kremlin leader.

Zelensky is set to meet US Vice President JD Vance at a security conference in Munich on Friday to kick off negotiations.

It will be the latest in a flurry of high-level meetings after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held talks in Kyiv on Wednesday on granting Washington access to Ukraine's rare earth deposits in return for security support.

- No 'dictated peace' -

Trump's outreach to Putin had been broadly expected, but the quick pace of his peace push has left heads spinning after three years of staunch Western support for Kyiv.

Kyiv's European backers are terrified that Trump could force Ukraine into a bad peace deal that will leave them facing an emboldened Putin -- while fronting the lion's share of costs for post-war security.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected any "dictated peace" and his defense minister said it was "regrettable" Washington was already making "concessions" to the Kremlin.

"In my view it would have been better to speak about a possible NATO membership for Ukraine or possible losses of territory at the negotiating table," German defense minister Boris Pistorius said.

Hegseth on Wednesday laid out a string of US expectations to halt the conflict, saying it was not realistic for Ukraine to regain all its land or become a NATO member.

He also said Europe must now start providing the "overwhelming share" of aid to Ukraine and that the United States would not deploy troops as a security guarantee under any deal.

In a statement on Wednesday, the foreign ministers of key European powers including Germany, France, Poland and Britain said "Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations."

Throughout Russia's all-out war on Ukraine since 2022 it has been a mantra for Western powers that there should be no decisions taken on Ukraine's future without Kyiv.

NATO chief Mark Rutte on Thursday said that it was crucial Kyiv is "closely involved" in any talks about what is happening in Ukraine.

Britain's defence secretary, John Healey, echoed that message, warning "there can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine, and Ukraine's voice must be at the heart of any talks."

Rutte insisted that any potential peace deal had to be "enduring", pointing to similar comments made earlier by Hegseth.

Russia's ally China meanwhile said it was "happy" to see the United States and Russia "strengthen communication".

© Agence France-Presse