Hegseth's Hawkish Message To NATO About Ukraine

BRUSSELS, Oct 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Wednesday called on NATO allies to increase spending on purchases of U.S. weapons for Ukraine, following a report that highlighted a sharp decline in 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 ahead of a meeting with his NATO counterparts at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels.

Hegseth urged allies to ramp up investment in the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) program, which replaced U.S. arms donations to Ukraine and now requires allies to pay for U.S. 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.