Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force, hit back on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s comments that returning Ukraine to its pre-2014 border was an “unrealistic objective.”

Bacon, a moderate Republican narrowly elected to a fifth term representing Nebraska’s Omaha-based second congressional district, responded to comments Hegseth made ahead of a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels on Wednesday.

Hegseth said it was unrealistic to try to return Ukraine’s borders to what they were before 2014 — when Russia annexed Crimea — indicating the U.S. will push a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine in which Ukraine cedes territory.

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