Hegseth urges NATO allies to increase US weapons purchases for Ukraine, warns Moscow

BRUSSELS: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Moscow on Wednesday that the United States and its allies would “impose costs on Russia for its continued aggression” if the war in Ukraine does not come to an end.

“If we must take this step, the US War Department stands ready to do our part in ways that only the United States can do,” Hegseth said at a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group of Kyiv’s allies at NATO headquarters.

Hegseth did not elaborate. His comments came as US President Donald Trump’s administration is considering a request by Ukraine for long-range Tomahawk missiles.

“Now is the time to end this tragic war, stop the needless bloodshed, and come to the peace table,” Hegseth said.

“This is not a war that started on President Trump’s watch, but it will end on his watch.”

Hegseth called on NATO allies to increase spending on purchases of US weapons for Ukraine, following a report that highlighted a sharp decline in Western military support for Kyiv in July and August.

“You get peace when you are strong. Not when you use strong words or wag your fingers, you get it when you have strong and real capabilities that adversaries respect,” he told reporters at NATO headquarters earlier in the day.

Hegseth urged allies to ramp up investment in the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) programme, which replaced US arms donations to Ukraine and now requires allies to pay for US weapons deliveries.

“Our expectation today is that more countries donate even more, that they purchase even more to provide for Ukraine, to bring that conflict to a peaceful conclusion.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said he expected further pledges, noting that $2 billion already had been committed through the mechanism.

However, this amount falls short of the $3.5 billion Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had hoped to secure by October.

Sweden, Estonia, and Finland pledged contributions on Wednesday. But bigger powers such as France and Britain have made no such commitments, despite Hegseth urging all of Kyiv’s allies to contribute to the PURL programme.