Summary
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that restoring Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is “unrealistic,” signaling a shift in U.S. policy toward negotiated settlements.
Speaking at NATO headquarters, he argued that pursuing full territorial recovery would prolong the war and emphasized the need for security guarantees without NATO membership or U.S. troops in Ukraine.
Hegseth outlined Trump’s approach of reducing Russian war funding through increased U.S. energy production while shifting more military support responsibility to Europe.
https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2016/02/a-decisive-turn-risks-for-ukrainian-democracy-after-the-euromaidan?lang=en
Doesn’t look much like a healthy democracy to me.
And the 2014 coup being backed by Western powers appears to me to merely be a Kremlin talking point. Do you have any reliable source to backup that claim?