In his first trip abroad, the new U.S. defense secretary told allies, including NATO officials, that a durable peace could only come “with a realistic assessment of the battlefield.”

Returning Ukraine to its pre-2014 borders is an "unrealistic objective," U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday.

However, he does not believe a return to the 2014 borders is realistic, the Pentagon chief said when asked by journalists. "My task was to bring a certain note of realism to our negotiations: a return to the pre-2014 borders is very unrealistic,