US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday warned NATO colleagues in Europe that the presence of the American contingent on the continent would be “forever”, as they urged them to spend more on defense.
“Now is the time to invest because you can’t guess that America’s presence will last forever,” Hegseth told reporters with her Polish counterpart at Warsaw.
He was visiting Poland on his first visit to Europe as the top officer in the administration of President Donald Trump. Trump has repeatedly called NATO members to increase their military expenses.
Hegseth praised “Model Associate” Poland – a country on NATO’s eastern flank that neighbors of both Russia and Ukraine – for their defense spending.
Warsaw aims to spend 4.7 percent of its annual economic production on defense in 2025, which is above two percent of the current minimum level of alliance.
Trump has earlier stated that the GDP should be more than five percent of the domestic product (GDP).
Poland Defense Minister Vladislav Kosinik-Community said Europe’s current weapon production capacity was “not enough”.
“Europe needs to wake up,” he said. “Europe needs to invest in the arms industry.”
Hegseth defended Trump’s efforts to start a conversation on the Ukraine war with the Russian leader.
And when asked if he trusted Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet any possible agreement, Hegseth told reporters, “You don’t have to trust anyone to interact with him”.
Trump blinded European colleagues from Ukraine and Washington on Wednesday, which since returning to power with Putin agreed to start a conversation with Putin to resolve the Ukraine conflict in his first publicly declared phone call.
On the same day, Hegseth said that it was not realistic for Ukraine to gain all his land or to become a member of NATO.
On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodimier Zelansky said he was ready for a direct conversation with Russia, once Kiev reached a normal place with the United States and Europe as to how to end the war of about three years. .
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