Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Roger Wicker said Pete Hegseth made a “rookie mistake” in his comments about Ukraine in a speech at NATO HQ.
Pro-Ukraine Wicker, who backed Hegseth when allegations that he liked to drink on the job surfaced, wasn’t so forgiving when the defense secretary said Ukraine would never look the same again and that the country can forget its hopes of NATO membership.
“Hegseth is going to be a great defense secretary, although he wasn’t my choice for the job,” the Mississippi Republican told Politico. “But he made a rookie mistake in Brussels and he’s walked back some of what he said but not that line.”
During his speech in Brussels, Hegseth suggested Kyiv should abandon hope of regaining all of its territory from Russia. His assertion that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should also give up on NATO membership gave the impression that the U.S. took a stance on the Ukraine-Russia saga closer to a Kremlin outlook.
“I don’t know who wrote the speech—it is the kind of thing Tucker Carlson could have written, and Carlson is a fool,” Wicker said, referring to the former Fox broadcaster, who has traveled to Moscow to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Wicker, however, gave Hegseth credit for rowing back slightly on his comments, saying he was “heartened” by this. “I prefer we didn’t give away negotiating positions before we actually get started talking about the end of the Russia-Ukraine war,” Wicker added, however.
It comes as Trump had phone conversations with both Zelensky and, first, Putin. On Thursday, he said there was a “good possibility of ending that horrible, very bloody war.”
Wicker, sharing a more traditional Republican stance, called Putin a “war criminal who needs to be in prison for the rest of his life.”
Hegseth appeared to err on the side of Moscow, before rowing back on his comments. / Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Contradicting Trump once more, Wicker rubbished the idea of Russia returning to the G7 fold. “There are good guys and bad guys in this war, and the Russians are the bad guys,” Wicker said. “They invaded, contrary to almost every international law, and they should be defeated. And Ukraine is entitled to the promises that the world made to it.”
Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance issued a stark warning to Russia, threatening the potential deployment of U.S. troops to Ukraine—a move that directly undercut Hegseth.
Vance said the U.S. may take military action if Putin fails to negotiate a deal that guarantees Ukraine’s long-term independence. This came after Hegseth had firmly ruled out any U.S. troop involvement in Ukraine. He was left scrambling to walk back his first statement on the world stage after a powerful backlash.
