JUST IN: Lloyd Austin Provides Update On Ukraine’s War With Russia

JUST IN: Lloyd Austin Provides Update On Ukraine’s War With Russia

good afternoon everyone thank you for being here today it is my pleasure to introduce the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General CQ Brown Jr the secretary and the chairman will deliver opening remarks and then we’ll have time to take a few questions please note that I will moderate those questions and call on journalists due to time constraints would ask that those I call upon limit their follow-up questions to give your colleagues a chance to ask their questions secretary Austin over to you sir thanks Patrick well good afternoon everybody and thanks for for joining us General Brown and I have just come from the 22nd meeting of the Ukraine defense contact group and I’m grateful to the some 50 countries from around the world that joined us again today the contact group heard directly from Ukraine’s defense leaders including minister umov they gave a valuable update on Ukraine’s defensive operations across the front line including the new Russian offensive around k we met today at a challenging moment for Ukraine Putin’s forces have opened another front to seize Sovereign Ukrainian territory and the Kremlin Invaders are obliterating Ukrainian Villages killing innocent civilians and bombarding civilian infrastructure including dams and power plants Ukraine’s Defenders are in a hard fight but Russian troops are paying a high price for Putin’s aggression now Putin is betting that eventually Ukraine will fold and he’s betting that this contact group will crumble but he’s wrong and today we saw a gain why Ukraine is fighting for its life which gives it the huge strategic advantage of a just cause and meanwhile Putin is trying to wage a 19th century war of Imperial aggression in the world of 2024 that’s a terrible idea and a terrible strategy Ukraine’s forces are fighting the Kremlin war of choice with Ingenuity and skill and they are making excellent use of the capabilities provided by the members of this contact group we spend a lot of time today on life-saving air defense systems which are helping Ukraine Stave off waves of Russian missiles Iranian uavs and North Korean Munitions and we’ll continue to push to ensure that Ukraine owns its guys and can defend its citizens and its civilian infrastructure far from the front lines the United States and our allies and partners worldwide remain laser focus on Ukraine’s near-term requirements in K and elsewhere and we’ll keep pushing wishing to find Swift solutions to Ukraine’s most pressing needs and that’s why President Biden announced a $400 million security assistance package for Ukraine earlier this month it will provide critical Munitions for nay Sams and Patriot air defense systems more High Mar systems and Munitions more anti- Armour systems and other priority requirements and this comes on top of the7 billion 7 billion of security assistance that we’ve already committed to Ukraine since the recent passage of the National Security Supplemental we’re delivering the most urgently needed capabilities including 155 MIM artillery rounds and much more is on the way now contact group members also spent time today on a long-term challenge of Ukraine security and I continue to be impressed by the work of the capability coalitions these eight coalitions are helping to anticipate and meet Ukraine’s Battlefield needs and they’re also laying the foundation for Ukraine’s future Force which must be strong and and sustainable enough to ward off future Russian aggression today we heard updates from the maritime Coalition and the integrated air and missile defense Coalition I’m also impressed with Germany’s immediate action on the Air Defense Initiative it’s helping Ukraine’s Global Partners dig deeper and to find Rapid and creative ways to deploy more air defense systems and provide the spare parts to sustain Ukraine’s defenses meanwhile the UK and Norway are leading the maritime Coalition and helping Ukraine beef up its capabilities to fend off Putin’s attacks now those are just two of the eight capability coalitions and together they’re providing a sturdy flexible structure to meet Ukraine’s security requirements over the Long Haul so we’ll continue to work with nations of goodwi from around the world to support Ukraine’s fight for survival and we’ll continue to make the case for why Ukraine matters the outcome in Ukraine is CR is crucial for European security for Global Security and for American secur security none of us would want to live in a world where dictators redraw borders by force and launch Wars of aggression to try to revive yesterday’s Empires so let me be clear Ukraine’s partners are united and we’re determined and we’re not going anywhere and with that let me turn it over to General Brown sir thank you Mr secretary uh good afternoon everyone in an address to Congress near the end of World War I President woodro Wilson laid out his 14-point program for World Peace he asserted that political Independence and territorial Integrity required an association of Nations United against authoritarian aggressors he said and I quote we cannot be separated in interest or dividing in purpose we stand together until the end President Wilson never realized his vision for a strong Coalition of Nations based on his 14 points the world had to endure a second world war a war more brutal and more costly than the first before there was Collective will to come together in common purpose the principles President Wilson Champion formed the basis of the international order we live in today that order is being challenged by Russia’s illegal and unprovoked attack on The Sovereign Nation of Ukraine Ukraine defense contact group has stood together in the face of this Russian aggression and we’ll continue to stand together to support Ukraine and defend the international order once again I want to thank secretary Austin for his leadership in this International Coalition of more than 50 nations in support of Ukraine thanks also to defense minister umarov and the Ukrainian delegation who joined us us today and for their leadership of Ukraine’s armed forces and to all the nations attending today thank you for your continued support of Ukraine Ukrainian forces are being challenged particularly in the K region where they are valant defending against increased Russian attacks in recent days Russia launched a new offensive attacks against garie aiming to establish a shallow buffer zone along the Ukrainian border Russia anticipates that this will divert Ukrainian focus and capabilities from other critical areas Ukraine has made the concerted efforts to build and strengthen defensive lines which are being tested by Russian attacks Ukraine is expanding air defense Munitions to protect their Skies as they defend against contined Russian strikes on critical cilian infrastructure Ukrainian forces are fighting hard to hold against Russian advances across the front lines Ukraine’s reserves and stock piles are being challenged as they defend against Russian offensive actions which underscores the urgency of this coalition’s work to sustain Ukraine the president authorized a$1 billion military aid package for Ukraine following the passage of the National Security Supplemental the second a package was authorized a little over a week ago to send additional critical capabilities to Ukraine C these packages include urly needed weapons such as artillery ammunition air defense interceptors anti-aircraft missiles armored vehicles javelins and other anti-armor systems we have worked diligently to deliver these supplies as quickly as possible the influx of us and Coalition assistance will enable Ukraine to continue to withstand Russian aggression the mil a military aid to Ukraine sends a clear message to the world this Coalition will not Tire we will not waver we will not give up our Collective resolve is steadfast we know that we cannot allow Russia to rewrite borders to force tyranny on an unwilling people and to supplant a sovereign Democratic Nation the actions of this Coalition show other wouldbe aggressors that we will defeat and the international order together our support for Ukraine is not merely an act of solidarity it is a strategic necessity that that reinforces broader International Security if unchecked Russian aggression could embolden other authoritarian regimes to challenge International norms and violate the sovereignty of their neighbors this highlights the importance of a robust and unified response global advant EV have far-reaching consequences that impact us all our Collective actions today will shape the geopolitical landscape of tomorrow this is what President Wilson understood safety and prosperity for all nations can only be won through unified and Cooperative effort President Wilson understand that peace and security are more than just words they require constant work and action on the part of Nations coming together for a common purpose the Ukraine defense contact group is committed to that work thank you and I look forward to your questions thank you both gentan our first question will go to Associated Press dark cop thank you for doing this um Mr secretary I wanted to ask you about Iran does the Pentagon have any indication that the helicopter crash in Iran that killed President Ry was anything other than an accident and have you directed any Force posture changes in case there’s unrest following these deaths and then for chairman Brown I wanted to ask you about senior Airman Roger forson what would you like to say to fortson’s family and more broadly what would you like to say to Black service members who are wondering if it matters whether they serve no matter what they do there’s still law enforcement that see them as a threat thanks Tara um regarding uh the death of Iran’s president uh in the in the very unfortunate helicopter crash we we continue to monitor the situation but um we don’t have any uh any insights into the cause of the of the accident uh at this point and certainly I know the Iranians are investigating or we’ll investigate and and so we’ll see what the what the outcome is once their investigation is complete um in terms of uh our Force posture don’t have any announcements to make uh and uh and again this is something that we’ll continue to watch and I don’t uh necessarily see any broader uh Regional security impacts at this point in time Tera but just on you no indication that there was anything other than an accident that brought this helicopter down right I I can’t speculate on what may have been the cause of the accident terara uh but uh um you know again I think we’ll we’ll learn more once the uh Iranians have have investigated turn let me have first of all pass on my sincere condolences to cman fortson’s family friends and fellowman um I know they’re going through some difficult times right now and I will also tell you that uh you know for every service we lose it always tears on me because I know it impacts a family you the one thing I would highlight you know this is under an investigation but what I would highlight is that number of our service members and their families live uh in our various communities around the country and we would hope and expect that they would all be able to be safe in those communities and and safe in their homes at the same time I would also highlight that for each one of those uh young people that join our service and raise their right hand and take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States we want to provide them uh opportunities to reach their full potential and that’s our Focus for uh no matter their background that uh decide to join our Force thank you Gman next question go to CNN uh secretary Austin sir Israeli defense minister yav Galan uh brief National Security adviser Jake Sullivan on on Rafa plans and humanitarian efforts at least according to the readout it seems it’s more detailed have you seen the plans that Sullivan was briefed on and does it meet the requirements of what you want to see in terms of what Israel needs to do before an operation in Rafa uh and then General Brown sir as Ukraine tries to defend itself against A Renewed Russian offensive in kke do you believe Ukraine should be able to use American Weaponry to Target Russian forces that are just right across the border there is that a recommendation you would make um thanks I I’ve not seen uh the uh the information that was brief to uh uh Mr Sullivan but um you know as as you know I talk to minister Gant every week and I would expect that uh he would uh detail uh the information in in in that briefing to me as well so and I I’ll talk to uh Jake Sullivan as soon as uh as soon as he’s available but because of that I won’t speculate as to whether or not uh it meets any kind of requirements uh but uh but again you know we’ve been clear about uh what we what we think is very very important and that is to make sure that the civilians that are in that battle space are moved out of the battle space before uh any activity occurs in that in that in that City so uh so we’ll see what happens you know our focus in support of Ukraine is is being able to use capabilities particularly the things that will impact the uh the close battle uh in in various areas um and we’re paying attention what’s going on in around carke I won’t publicly talk about what I might advice um but as we uh continue to support them I I’ll continue to work with the secretary uh as we make uh recommendations going forward but the real key point is is using the capabilities that we provided them in the close battle in the areas that they they are doing on the fronts that they’re already uh operating on as well as uh into Crimea okay let’s go to Washington Post hi uh nice to see you all um this question for both of you um regarding going back to the Rafa operation um and following up on orin’s question so the IDF is announcing plans as as recently as today to expand the Rafa operation and meanwhile people that we’ve spoken with on the ground say that in in uh that they perceive what is already a full-fledged operation at least that’s the perception on the ground given the Abid Administration statement that it will not support a full-fledged invasion of Rafa without a coherent evacuation in humanitarian plan are you prepared to declare that it’s a full-fledged Invasion if these uh actions go ahead and do you think there’s a danger that the IDF could sort of just do this gradually continue to make sort of gradual expansions and incremental uh push into Rafa in a way that falls short of a giant charge into the City and potentially try to avoid the US consequences that have been threatened thank you um yeah again uh I uh I’ve seen what uh what was reported that Minister Gant said I look forward to talking to him about uh about what his plans really are and also getting uh talking with uh Jake Sullivan as well um and I really don’t want to speculate as to whether or not uh this is or is not u a uh or will be a uh a larger operation I really would like to to see what the you know what what they intend to do but what we would like to see again is is protection of those civilians that are in the battle space move those civilians out but not only move them out but make sure that uh wherever they go wherever you move them to that you that you have Provisions for them to take care of them Water Shelter those types of things um and you know I’ve said before that there in my view there have been far too many casualties civilian casualties in this fight uh we need to see something uh done a lot differently and even you know know if there are um um if there is kinetic activity if there are uh there is an operation that that that is conducted that’s that’s larger we certainly would like to see things done differently more precise uh in uh in less destruction of uh of uh you know the uh the civilian structures and and and more protection of the civilian population well I would Echo you know very much what the secretary said in all my conversations my counterpart it’s very much the same um you know be able to communicate with us what their intent is so we understand how they’re approaching it but at the same time being able to take care of of the civilians and uh not just um you know move them out but move them into places where they can uh you know have shelter have food and that’s something we we continually message in the uh in the gangers I have with my uh my counterpart let’s go to Fox um secretary Austin uh Victoria nulan the former acting deputy secretary of state who just stepped down said yesterday on the Sunday shows that the administration needs a new Ukraine strategy and she said quote I think if the attacks are coming directly from Over the Line in Russia that those bases ought to be fair game I think it’s time to give the ukrainians more help hitting these bases inside Russia do you agree with her assessment uh I agree with what the chairman just said uh Jennifer and that is that uh you know in my view their focus ought to be on the on the close fight and making sure that uh they’re they’re servicing those targets that will that will uh enable success in the close fight so um you know and you know we’ve been that way throughout and and you know that’ll be my view uh going forward so and general Brown is there anything NATO can do to help Georgia resist Russian efforts to expand their influence how does this affect what’s happening in Georgia right now how does it affect Georgia’s Pathway to Nato well you know we’re we’re deeply concerned and watching um the influence Russia uh has in in Georgia and we we’ll remain committed to Georgia sovereignty um you know as as I met last week with my uh my NATO counterparts we consistently talk about how we work together to the the sovereignty of the the the uh the Nations that are part of NATO but also just the overall security situation in in Europe but will this affect Georgia’s admission to Nato or Pathway to Nato should they I’m not I’m not in polic making decision points of uh of whether or not but you know from my perspective as a uniform uh service member it’s about ensuring the security of uh the various Nations but also the security of the citizens of those Nations as well okay let’s go to El jair thank you General thank you Mr secretary um the international criminal court prosecutor today announced he’s requesting um arrest warranties against prime minister Netanyahu and of Israel and your counterpart Mr Galan over accusation of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza my first question will your um Administration support this case and will you cooperate with the court on this case and the second question is um the us being the main supporters of supporter of Israel and in light of this uh case uh will you reconsider the provision of weapons to Israel some of which have been used to kill inan civilians according to President Biden thank you Al so I’ve seen press reports of uh you know the ICC U seeking arrest warrants uh but I don’t have anything to provide on that on that issue on that issue again our Focus continues to be uh on providing Israel what it needs to defend itself we we that’s been our Focus from the very beginning and as President Biden has said a number times uh our support to Israel remains Ironclad um I think it’s important to reflect back to how this got started you know this brutal attack on October 7th um you know number of uh uh Israeli and American civilians uh were were killed in that uh in that assault uh in that terrorist attack uh there were over 230 hostages taken half of those hostages remain in custody uh and so um you know again our Focus remains on providing support to uh to Israel in its efforts to defend itself uh and we very much would like to see uh the hostages uh returned uh safely um and in terms of the decision to provide uh weapons to uh to Israel again I won’t uh engage in any type of speculation going forward but uh but again my hope would be that uh you know we do what’s necessary to protect civilians in the battle space and you know you’ll hear me say that over and over again I I don’t think the two things are are incompatible you know I think you can conduct military operations effectively and also um um account for civilians in the battle space you know we we have learned a lot the United States has learn learned a lot in terms of you this type of operation over the past several years and and uh again I there’s there are ways to do this when you can where you can account for both you can protect the people and also accomplish your objectives let’s go Tooter um General Brown could you explain you’ve been quoted talking about the inevitability of uh advisers us advisers in Ukraine working with Ukrainian forces can you explain a little bit about what what why that is necessary and what it would take to make that happen and uh and secretary Austin on the ICC President Biden has uh called it uh the the arrest warrants outrageous um this department had said it would work with the IC to provide evidence about Ukraine uh is that work continuing um how does this decision affect uh those Pentagon efforts thank you so let me uh put uh you know this that discussion into context if you go back told before February of uh uh 2022 we had uh our US military members in there while working and training with the ukrainians and that’s not the case right now and uh you know when I said that we would put be able to do that eventually you know once this conflict is over and um we’re we’re in a better place then uh I would suspect that we would be able to uh bring trainers back in but right now there are no plans uh to bring us trainers into Ukraine so on the on the question of the ICC um again as I said earlier I don’t have uh anything to add on the on the reports that that we’ve seen here recently um regarding the question of whether not uh we’ll continue to provide support uh to the ICC with respect to crimes are committed uh in Ukraine yes we continue that work time for just a couple more let’s go to NPR Mr secretary I want to go back to RF uh you said you haven’t received a detailed military plan from the Israelis about the way ahead there what about the humanitarian plan that you say you want them to care for these hundreds of thousands of people displaced provide food shelter Medical Care have they given you any indication about how they plan on doing that um early on we received a uh a conceptual brief on how they were going to going to put uh measures in place to take care of the population that that moved out of that battle space uh and the things that are required to support that plan we’ve just not seen I’ve not seen uh those elements go into play and so my view is that there’s there’s more work to be done and uh and my view is also that this takes this takes time and so um again those those things that I think uh need to be in place to take care of people whenever they migrate from one place to another again we I’ve not seen evidence that those things are in place yet so well can you give us a sense of the concept that they gave you any any details on that to us uh I’ll I’ll leave that to the is Israelis to brief their their concept but uh um yeah it’s it’s one thing to have a concept it’s another thing to actually put it into play so that’s good NBC um Mr secretary you said that uh it is possible to conduct operations and also account for civilians in the battle space and I wonder on Rafa given your extensive military experience what you’re seeing happen in Rafa right now do you think that Israel is doing that conducting their operations and accounting for civilians in the battle space and then Mr chairman on the idea of um Ukraine conducting strikes inside Russia I wonder if you can say are you confident that none of the long range attack thems that the US has provided have been used to strike inside Russian territory um so regarding um what uh what Israel is doing inside Rafa you know what we’ve seen thus far is uh a limited action that’s been focused on the Rafa border crossing and again U it’s reported that uh Minister Gan said that he looks to expand operations going forward um now um I I look forward to to having that discussion with him to understand uh you know what what his intent is and and uh and how he’s going to do that but again uh what we want to see is uh is civilians accounted for and moved out of that battle space before anything happens we’ve been clear about that uh about that throughout um as you well know um I think before things this fight kicked off in in Gaza there were some 275,000 or so people that lived in and around Rafa that number grew to um 1.25 million or or so and that’s that’s a big jump and uh and that’s a lot of people in a very compressed battle space that’s uh in a in a very difficult urban area and as you know Urban combat is very very intense very difficult uh to begin with so uh unless you account for those civilians uh and do things differently then I think uh you know you stand to have a lot more casualties going forward and that’s something that we’d like to see change scrips yeah I’m uh I am confident the the attachments that we provideed been uh not been used in uh in Russia they’ve been used in Targets in Ukraine secretary Austin the Russians they’re flying bom they’re flying bombers in Russian territory with glide bombs that are having a devastating impact on the battlefield inside of Ukraine should the ukrainians be able to use American Air defenses to hit those Russian bombers in Russian territory well you know I again you can diagram a number of different cases for um you know whatever I would say that uh we we have been clear about providing Ukraine the ability to defend it defend its uh Sovereign territory and again the Dynamics of of an aerial engagement you know I i’ leave it up to the experts but but uh but certainly um you know our expectation is that they they continue to use the weapons that we provided uh uh on targets inside of Ukraine now the the the the aerial Dynamics a little bit different and uh and so uh but again um don’t want to speculate on any anyone or or any type of Engagement here at the podium so it’s off limits or not off liit so final question we’ll go here you uh Mr secretary are you concerned that Iran is going to try and blame Israel or even the United States for the crash that killed the President yesterday and for General Brown Israel is also conducting operations in Northern Gaza even though they’ve said that they they previously said that they had defeated Hamas there so particularly given your personal experience fighting terrorists in the Middle East do you believe that Israel can achieve its goal of fully eliminating Hamas the the United States had no part to play uh in in that crash and so and that’s that’s a fact plain and simple and Israel are you afraid they’re going to blame Israel I I I won’t speculate as to what they’ll what they’ll blame again they they have to conduct an investigation to see what the cause of the crash was um it could be a number of things mechanical failure pilot error you name it so to to your uh your question about Northern Gaza you know uh and and based on experience uh not only do you have to actually go in and uh and clear out uh whatever adosphere you’re up against you has to go in and hold the territory then you got to stabilize it uh the uh Israelis didn’t actually uh once they cleared it didn’t C and so that allows um your adversary then to repopulating areas if you’re not there um and so that does make it more challenging for them um as far as being able to uh meet their objective being able to uh militarily uh destroy and defeat Hamas do you think they will be able to do that well I mean Hamas is it’s not just an organization it’s a it’s a ideology and so you got to think about uh um you know the overall piece of being able to provide uh security not only for Israel but just there in the region um is going to take a concer eort not just from a military piece but it’s also how we uh you know work the humanitarian assistance which is why we focus so much secret talking about human assistance and and protecting these civilians that are there in in Gaza secretary Austin General Brown thank you very much gentlemen ladies and gentlemen this concludes our press briefing thank you thanks

Sec. Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown held a press briefing on Monday on Ukraine.

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