Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin on Putin's peace proposal: "He could end this today, if he chose to do that, and we call upon him to do that, and to leave Ukrainian sovereign territory"

Putin has occupied, illegally occupied, sovereign Ukrainian territory. He is not in any position to dictate to Ukraine what they must do to bring about peace, said Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin. On Friday afternoon, he commented on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's "peace" proposal.

Putin stated on Friday, at a meeting with the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow, that the Russian army would cease fire if Ukrainian troops withdrew from Ukrainian territories annexed by Russia and Kyiv committed to not joining NATO.

Asked about this proposal, the U.S. Secretary of Defense emphasized that Putin is illegally occupying Ukraine's sovereign territory. He, therefore, has no right to dictate to Ukraine what it should do to bring peace, said Austin in Brussels, where he participated in a meeting of defense ministers of NATO member countries.

He could end this today, if he chose to do that, and we call upon him to do that, and to leave Ukrainian sovereign territory, he added.

When asked about the potential expansion of NATO, he said that he does not see any desire or signs among current allies that indicate an expansion of NATO shortly.

He said that there will always be countries that want to join because of the values the Alliance represents and the commitments we make to each other—the protection of each country's territory. But it is a defensive alliance, and I think allies will want to focus shortly on stabilizing the situation and refining our plans. So, he noted that he was doing what we had been doing during this meeting.