Fox News host Shannon Bream confronted U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after Russian President Vladimir Putin planned to take a "victory lap" because the Kremlin believes President Donald Trump "abandoned Ukraine.

Following a weekend of Donald Trump administration officials taking extreme measures to avoid saying Russia is to blame for the war in Ukraine, the panel on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" took aim at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for mealy-mouthed side-stepping of the issue during an appearance on Fox News.

Hegseth also said Wednesday that Ukraine returning to its prewar borders—before Russia annexed Crimea in 2014—would be “unrealistic,” effectively forcing Ukraine to cede territory to Russia in another striking reversal of the U.S. and NATO’s previous position regarding the former Soviet territory.

Two percent is a start, as President Trump has said, but it’s not enough, nor is 3%, nor is 4% — more like 5%,” the defense secretary said in a speech in Brussels.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday brushed off European complaints that President Trump’s surprise one-on-one talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin amounted to a betrayal of Ukraine and stood by his comments a day earlier that it was unrealistic for Kyiv to expect a peace deal to return all the land it had lost since Russia invaded nearly three years ago.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said it was "unrealistic" for Ukraine to attempt to get all of its territory back from Russia.

Hegseth seems to have given up two main points to Russian President Vladimir Putin, including a key piece of leverage in future negotiations to end the war between Ukraine and Russia. One of Putin’s major complaints about Ukraine has been the prospect of the country joining NATO along with the rest of Eastern Europe.

Remarks by Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are fueling concerns that the U.S. will move away from Europe and align with Moscow.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday responded to global blowback to his comments this week that Ukraine should not expect to join NATO or return to it’s pre-2014 borders as President

As Russia's sanctions-hit economy faces headwinds, Putin will be buoyed by a surge in Russia's stock market on Thursday. The Moscow Exchange (MOEX) and the RTS Index both jumped by more than six percent. The ruble, whose value had plummeted in recent months, has strengthened 3.72 percent against the U.S. dollar to 90.5.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth commented on how the administration views the future of the Ukraine-Russia war, including what concessions might need to be made.

US Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, said Thursday that acknowledging Ukraine's borders would not go back to what they were in 2014 was "not a concession" to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but was a "recognition of the hard power realities on the ground".