Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth drew firm limits on US support for Ukraine in a speech to NATO allies on Wednesday, spurning its aspirations for membership in the alliance and rejecting proposals that American troops be deployed to help guarantee a ceasefire in its war with Russia.

Speaking at a NATO meeting in Belgium, the defense secretary said the U.S. would no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship with its allies.

In his first trip abroad, the new U.S. defense secretary told Ukrainian and NATO officials that a durable peace could only come ‘with a realistic assessment of the battlefield.’