Speaking at a defence summit in Brussels, Hegseth said the US would no longer "tolerate an imbalanced relationship" with its allies and called on Nato members to spend much more on defence. He also said it was "unrealistic" to expect Ukraine to return to its pre-2014 borders and downplayed the prospect of Ukraine joining Nato.

Hegseth urged NATO allies to bolster their defense spending from 2% to 5% of their GDP, noting that the U.S. is attempting to "revive the warrior ethos" as well.