Pete Hegseth ‘s jet has made an emergency landing after a high-stakes NATO summit on the Russia-Ukraine war. The Secretary of War’s Boeing C-32A was flying over the Atlantic on Wednesday when a crack in the windshield forced it to land at RAF Mildenhall in England.
‘The plane landed based on standard procedures and everyone onboard, including Secretary Hegseth, is safe,’ Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell posted on X. It comes after a string of European defense ministers were targeted by Russian GPS jamming following meetings to discuss the Ukraine war.
Earlier, Hegseth delivered a stern warning to Vladimir Putin that the United States was prepared to use all available military means to bring about the end of the conflict. Hegseth told a meeting of NATO leaders in Brussels: ‘If there is no path to peace in the short term… the US War Department stands ready to do our part in ways that only the United States can do.’
America ‘remains clear-eyed about the fact that the most effective deterrents to Russian aggression are number one: a lethal, capable and European-led NATO, and number two: a combat credible Ukrainian military’, he added. His latest remarks contrast sharply with his stance during his February visit to NATO headquarters, where he suggested that US attention would pivot away from Europe in favor of more urgent challenges elsewhere in the world.
Donald Trump’s unexpected August sit-down with Putin in Alaska raised alarm in Kyiv and throughout Europe, as many feared the meeting signaled a willingness to entertain Moscow’s perspective on the war. In late September, a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen encountered GPS jamming while flying over Bulgaria, an act widely suspected to be the result of Russian electronic warfare.
Just weeks later, a Spanish military jet transporting Defense Minister Margarita Robles experienced similar interference near Russia’s Kaliningrad region en route to Lithuania. In another case, UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps’ aircraft faced GPS jamming during its return flight from Poland to Britain.
After earning rare global praise for brokering a high-stakes hostage swap and temporary ceasefire in Gaza, President Trump is riding a wave of diplomatic momentum—but the stakes are about to get even higher. Since a frosty Oval Office clash in February—when Trump and Vice President JD Vance openly scolded Zelenskyy for what they called a lack of gratitude—the dynamic between the two leaders has thawed.
Trump has shed his earlier hands-off approach with Putin, shifting instead to a tougher line and declaring that Ukraine could and should reclaim their land. In a fiery September Truth Social post, he dubbed Russia a ‘paper tiger’ and, for the first time, labeled it the war’s aggressor.
President Trump is set to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday, marking a shift toward strengthening US-Ukraine relations following months of pressuring Kyiv to make compromises in its conflict with Russia. This came after a recent phone call between the US and Ukrainian presidents discussing the likely transfer of long-range Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv, which would enable deeper strikes into Russian territory.
While Trump had previously resisted the idea due to concerns about escalating the three-and-a-half-year war, two sources familiar with the conversations say the plan is now under renewed consideration, a topic the two leaders will discuss on Friday. Trump has made threats to send the weapons to Kyiv if Russia’s president does not come to the peace table. Daily Mail reached out to the Pentagon for comment.
