U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth statedon Thursday that Ukraine’s NATO membership is not a realistic outcome of any peace settlement with Russia, calling on European NATO allies to take the lead in securing Ukraine and strengthening their own defenses. Speaking at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Brussels, Hegseth emphasized that the U.S. will not deploy troops to Ukraine and that any security guarantees must be backed by European and non-European forces, but outside of NATO’s Article 5 framework. He also urged European nations to increase their defense spending from 2% to 5% of GDP, aligning with President