pentagon — On a windy Thursday outside Washington at the Pentagon, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth welcomed his British counterpart to discuss how best to quickly end Russia’s war in Ukraine. “European leadership of NATO, led by the U.K., led by others, is, we believe, the future of defense on the continent,” Hegseth said. British Defense Secretary John Healey said the United Kingdom had increased its defense spending and would continue to do so. “You challenged us to step up on Ukraine, on defense spending, on European security. And I say to you that we have, we are, and we