BREAKING NEWS: Antony Blinken Holds A Press Briefing In Ukraine As Russia Advances On Kharkiv

BREAKING NEWS: Antony Blinken Holds A Press Briefing In Ukraine As Russia Advances On Kharkiv

min UK for say for Ro [Music] uh Patriot for [Music] to [Music] [Music] s um anony blink thank you very much and you know I remember very well standing with you just inside um Ukraine next to the Polish border and I think back to that I think about the road that’s been traveled since then um if you count that I’ve been here times since the Russian reinvasion four times to keev uh yesterday I had a chance to speak about the work that we’re doing the steps the United States is taking to help ensure Ukraine’s strategic success um we’re working to ensure that Ukraine can deliver on the battlefield today as it continues to protect the country from Russian aggression but also put itself in a position where it can deter and defend against future attacks and fundamentally secure for the Ukrainian people the right to decide their own future uh we have of course the supplemental and the assistance from the supplemental is on its way in fact some of it’s already been delivered uh but today I want to add to that by announcing that we will provide an additional $2 billion in foreign military financing for Ukraine and we put this together in a firstof its kind uh defense Enterprise fund and it has three components one is to provide weapons today uh so this will assist Ukraine in acquiring those weapons two is to focus as well on something that demitro just talked about investing in Ukraine’s defense industrial base uh helping to strengthen even more its capacity to produce what it needs for itself but also to produce for others and finally using this fund to help Ukraine purchase military equipment from other countries not just the United States for Ukraine’s use all of this in particular as we’re thinking about the defense industrial base Builds on an incredible Spirit of innovation of Ingenuity of Entrepreneurship that we hear we see here in Ukraine and that I again had a chance to uh to witness for myself I saw it at the um brael facility uh which is doing extraordinary work Innovative work with entrepreneurial Vision um I saw it uh in the uh extraordinary work as well at the company producing uh World leading Prosthetics and uh we saw it in the way that Ukraine is adapted uh to deal with the Russian Onslaught against its agricultural enterprise uh but the work that it’s done to find ways around that and to continue to be a leading exporter of food and a bread basket for the world of course everyone’s eyes are focused on the situation in the East and the Northeast and kke in particular um and so so the newest support that I’ve just announced but particularly the $60 billion supplemental we know is coming at a critical time um Ukraine is facing this renewed brutal Russian Onslaught uh and we see again senseless rights at civilians residential buildings uh I emphasize to the president uh my conversations with um the foreign minister uh the substance of the the the work that we’re doing to get the uh the aid to Ukraine we’re rushing ammunition armored vehicles missiles air defenses rushing them to get to the front lines to protect soldiers to protect civilians and on air defenses as demitro said this is of course a top priority and we focused in our own conversations uh in detail on the work that we’re doing to find more air defenses and to get them to Ukraine and I can tell you that that for us is a matter of both of urgency and priority uh another major issue that uh we talked about is the bilateral security agreement between Ukraine and the United States uh and as you know there are now 32 countries that have negotiated or will soon complete negotiations on these bilateral security agreements agreements that will sustain assistance to Ukraine uh for the next decade and enable it to build this future force uh that can deter aggression and defend against it we’ve done very good productive work between our teams on this um we’re going to finalize the uh the text I think very very shortly but the heavy lifting has been done uh and we’re we’re there and I imagine we’ll be able to sign that agreement in a matter of weeks um and as I said uh many other countries are doing the same thing uh I think this demonstrates to Ukraine but also to Putin that many countries will be supporting Ukraine for a long time uh to make sure that again it can deter and as necessary defend against it as important as well is the economic progress that uh Ukraine is making as I said I saw firsthand some of the initiatives that have enabled it to continue to succeed economically even under the most incredibly difficult circumstances the fact that as a result of the the Black Sea and as a result of pushing the Russian Navy out of the way exports through the Black Sea are pretty much equal to what they were before the Russian re aggression that speaks volumes the fact that Ukraine has found ways with uh help from many of us to find other export Roots whether it’s danu whether it’s across land all of these things are helping uh Ukraine to maximize uh its exports and I mentioned the extraordinary Innovation we’ve seen in so many of its other Enterprises finally uh let me say that maybe the best word to describe Ukraine and ukrainians In This Moment is resilience it’s uh been truly extraordinary the constant um examples of Bravery determination courage um resilience are here in every corner of society uh and it’s also a commitment on the part of ukrainians as I said to write their own future even as they’re dealing with the very difficult pres uh and we see that of course from the soldiers we see that from so many citizens we see it from a dynamic Civil Society uh which is one of the things that’s at the heart of Ukrainian democracy uh and here pushing for the reforms necessary for Ukraine’s eventual entry into the European Union uh to Nato that remains critical bottom line is this uh for anyone who’s tempted to bet against Ukraine don’t it would be a big mistake we’ve heard the same thing sometimes about the United States never a a good bet to bet against us never a good bet to bet against Ukraine uh we’ve been through challenging times together uh I have every confidence that together we will get through these difficult moments and together help build a country that is free that’s prosperous that’s secure that writes its own future thank you Excell have short time for a few brief questions let’s start with Washington Post Michael thanks very much to both of you um secretary blinkin um uh the Biden Administration has uh made clear it doesn’t want Ukraine using uh us equipment to strike onto Russian territory the situation in harv right on the border um uh is is pretty dramatic right now and it seems like your uh your restrictions are making it very hard for Ukraine to respond to the Russian attack since a lot of them are coming from Russian territory does that ban make sense right now um and are you considering relax tax in it um and um you president zalinski asked you yesterday for two Patriot batteries for harv uh what do you say to that what are your plans um last is there a chance of Ukraine negotiating an end to this war before the end of this year do you think that’s something that would be desirable and um Mr kba uh how much of what you’re seeing now on the front lines the situation there is caused by the delay in US Aid to Ukraine and um uh secretary blinkin uh yesterday and perhaps today spent a lot of time talking about corruption in Ukraine um and pushing you to do more about it um do you agree with him that corruption remains a major problem uh in in this country and how much should Americans be worried about corruption when they are sending Ukraine Aid thanks a lot great thank you so first let me be very clear about one thing which which actually shouldn’t require Clarity which is that the United States is committed uh to helping ensure Ukraine uh winning this war and I think we’ve shown that through the extraordinary support that we’ve provided and that we continue to provide uh we have not uh encouraged or enabled strikes uh outside of Ukraine uh but ultimately Ukraine has to make decisions for itself about how it’s going to conduct this war a war is conducting in defense of its freedom of its sovereignty of its territorial integrity and we will continue to back Ukraine with the equipment that it needs to succeed that it needs to win on the Patriot batteries um as I mentioned we are intensely focused on Patriots and other forms of air defense um and making sure that we can find them bring them to Ukraine um kke of course is one urgent priority there are others all I can tell you is this is something we discussed in detail and that we’re actively and urgently uh working on finally in terms of negotiations uh these again are decisions for Ukraine to make uh not the United States or not uh any other country uh so if um I imagine that if Putin showed any interest in um seriously engaging uh in negotiations uh I’m sure ukrainians would respond to that but what Putin is demonstrating every every single day is exactly the opposite uh but fundamentally these are questions for Ukraine to answer we’ve been very clear uh we support Ukraine we support Ukraine in its uh decisions and uh there will not be uh never will be anything about Ukraine without Ukraine um every delay of Supply results in setbacks on the front line This is the general rule so the answer to a question is yes uh we appreciate the sincere commitment of the United States to compensate deliveries uh delays in deliveries with new announcements and new deliveries and this is why I so much emphasized the issue of timing in both our talks and uh in my in my opening remarks but it doesn’t apply only to the United States I mean every country we encourage every country to make new new announcements and to deliver on them because in the end we have seen it hundreds of times when a Ukrainian infantry man or artillery man has everything that he or she needs we are winning every time there are delays and supplies and insufficient supplies we are not winning the law of the war is cruel but very clear it allows us to know what and how needs to be done on your second question there is a perception of the level of corruption and there are facts about the level of corruption and uh when I read reports and assessments produced by the most uh prudent watch dos on corruption on corruption like the European Union or the international monetary fund we see that they command Ukraine for taking anti-corruption measures for introducing anti-corruption reforms and there is always a very simple criteria you know if we were as corrupt as the perception says they simply wouldn’t be giving us any money they wouldn’t be opening accession talks with Ukraine to exceed the European Union and the United States wouldn’t have trust uh in Ukraine so there are issues which we are addressing together but uh I think it will be true to say that since his first day in office president zalinski and since the first sessions of the Ukrainian government and Parliament we’ve been consistently tackling issues issues of corruption and achieved serious results on this track David um again we’re uh determined that uh Ukraine win this war and succeed for its people and for its future uh We’ve uh we’ve been clear about uh our own policy but again uh these are decisions that Ukraine has to make Ukraine will make for itself and we’re committed to making sure that Ukraine has the equipment it needs to succeed on the battlefield next one goes Toc thank you thank you very much Tom bitman from uh BBC Mr secretary um President Putin has announced he’s going to visit China this week we were with you three weeks ago in Beijing where you warned of consequences if China didn’t stop its exports to Russia of tools and parts that make weapons used here in Ukraine um have you been able to tell your Ukrainian counterpart that you are now imposing those consequences or have the Chinese listen to your warning and if I could ask you about Gaza um Israel has taken control of the Palestinian side of the a Crossing in the last week that means that the last territorial connection to the outside word world for ordinary Palestinians in Gaza is now occupied by Israeli forces which has the potential um to create a very serious crisis with Egypt and there have been quite a few warnings about this how long can Israel stay in control of that Crossing and where is the line and where a limited operation in Rafa turns into something that you’ve said you oppose and we’ve see nearly half a million people now displac from Rafa over the last week or so um and Mr foreign minister if I may um we heard from the uh Secretary of State yesterday that the US is with you for the long term on this but I just want to ask the question that there is a US presidential election later this year it may be a promise for the Secretary of State to make but not necessarily one for him to keep and are you concerned about uh what that may mean um for the long-term support for Ukraine thank you Tom thank you um first with regard to to China and uh you heard uh you heard me talk about this at some length when uh when I was in Beijing and uh since then as well as other colleagues in the government the concern that we have uh is this uh it’s not about China providing weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine North Korea is doing that Iran’s doing that others may be uh China’s held back from that but what we are deeply concerned about is the support that China is providing to Russia to rebuild um its defense industrial base in ways that are materially contributing to and making a difference in its aggression against Ukraine as I said uh when we were in Beijing we see that um the overwhelming majority of machine tools that Russia is getting from abroad are coming from China the overwhelming majority of microelectronics that Russia is getting from abroad are coming from China and these are going directly to to strengthening that defense industrial base that over the last year has been able as a result to churn out more tanks more armored vehicles uh more missiles all used in the aggression against Ukraine so what uh I shared with um Chinese counterparts and I’ve said here as well is that um not only are we looking and watching this very carefully but as necessary we H uh we have and we will continue to take action including sanctioning uh entities involved uh companies involved we’ve already uh levied something like um uh more than a 100 sanctions um against uh Enterprises that are involved in this kind of support uh and as necessary we’re going to continue to uh to do that now the other thing that’s important about this uh as I said then and I think you’re seeing this this play out too is that to the extent China is looking to have stronger relations with countries in Europe uh it can’t on the one hand seek to do that while on the other hand uh remain responsible for fueling uh the biggest threat to Europe’s security since the end of the Cold War because the threat posed by Russia is both the immediate threat um here in Ukraine as a result of the aggression but also as it works to try to get around sanctions export controls Etc uh in rebuilding its defense industrial base an ongoing and potentially growing threat to many other countries in Europe so this is of acute importance to many Europeans that I’ve talked to and I imagine that they’re making that known to to Beijing as well with regard to Gaza one of the deep concerns that we have uh is the impact of this limited operation that we’ve seen to date in Rafa on the ability to provide humanitarian assistance because the two main points of access in the South uh Rafa itself and Kem Shalom have been affected by the um by the the resulting conflict uh in uh in the South uh and we’ve seen at the very time when Israel was taking important and much needed steps to improve the provision of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians and Gaza we’ve seen a negative impact uh on the fact that we have uh this uh act very active conflict in the in the RAF area area uh we also see Hamas firing at the The Crossings themselves U making it also more difficult so in and of itself we have this urgent problem of restoring the full operational capacity of Rafa and of corm Shalom to make sure that assistance gets in now we’re also seeing uh real progress in the north where more is coming through but what we don’t want to see um is a situation where we’ve basically reversed what’s happened recent months where assistance was working its way through in the South but very little was getting to the north to have that reversed and have improvements in the north that are much needed and need and need to continue um but then to see um steps backward uh in the South more broadly we’ve been very clear that um when it comes to the future of Gaza uh we do not support and will not support an Israeli reoccupation we also of course do not support uh Hamas governance in Gaza we know and have seen where that’s LED all too many times for the people of Gaza and uh and for Israel uh and we also can’t have Anarchy uh and a vacuum that’s likely to be filled by chaos that only underscores the imperative of having a clear concrete plan for the day after the conflict in Gaza in terms of governance in terms of security in terms of rebuilding uh Gaza for uh for its people uh and here it would be important for Israel to focus on that as well we have been doing a lot of work on this as I mentioned the other day uh with um Partners in the Arab world and Beyond over several months but it’s imperative that Israel also do this work and focus on uh what the future can and must be because again it cannot and says it does not want responsibility for Gaza we cannot have Hamas controlling Gaza we can’t have chaos and Anarchy in Gaza so there needs to be a clear concrete plan and we look to Israel to come forward with its ideas well first uh secretary blinkin always keeps his word and I know that if he cannot promise something it doesn’t mean that he’s not working on it he just gives his promises when he is confident that uh that he can that he can deliver and I sincerely appreciate it um secretary mentioned the security agreement that Ukraine and the United States our two leaders presidents will sign and this is the document that will be signed not on behalf of the state department or the Biden Administration this is the document that will be signed on behalf of the United States of America and it will cover a long range of wide range of security cooperation issues and the United States will undertake certain commitments under this document and we all know there is a very fundamental rule in diplomacy it sounds in Latin paaka servant agreements must be implemented um so this will be the promise that no future Administration irrespective of the outcome of this or any other any future elections in the United States will be able to ignore until uh this uh agreement will be in force uh with regard the P Summit we strongly support it uh we want to make sure that it’s success uh and uh we will be robustly represented there I don’t have any announcements to make uh on that except to say we’re working on it uh to make sure that um we support this very important initiative and uh that it produces Real Results uh and with regard to the two presidents meeting I fully anticipate that they’ll have the opportunity uh to do that in the weeks ahead as uh demitro said um among other things uh we want to sign the bilateral security agreement that we’re on the verge of concluding [Music] thanc thank you

Sec. Antony Blinken held a press briefing on Wednesday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript

Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com