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>> we take you now to remarks by defense secretary lloyd austin and scwoint chiefs of■ staff chair brown, they spoke about the ukraine defense contract the ukraine defense contract >> the ukrainian people will not let putin prevail and neitherh8 will we. as president biden has said, we will not walk away. now, putin hoped to isolate ukraine. instead, he left himself alone with iran and north korea. that's a far cry from some 50 nations of goodwill from all around the world who gathered again today. our allies and partners are here stakes and ukraine's friends continue to come up with innovative solutions to make ked

capabilities, especially air defense and armor and artillery mu armor and artillery ammunition. we are proud to stand with them. we recently announced more u.s. we recently announced more u.s. we announced security systems valued at more than $300 million. our allie continue to step up and the united states must, also. for nearly two years, this contact group generated more than $38 billion in security assistance commitments for ukraine. ncludes 15 u.s. allies o are committing more to ukraine than us as a share of their gdp. tracks. first we are working to provide near-term support for ukraine's troops and second, we are hard

at work with ukraine's leaders to plan this long-term defense and deterrence. this long-term support is rooted in the capability coalitions and they are now up and running. ■'capability coalitions bring together countries to focus on ukraine's most critical immediate and long-term needs. our aim is to help ukrne contene force for the long haul. the capability coalitions will le's friends coordinate our support for years to come. they create a coherent, nimble, andcurity. this morning i convened the first meeting of the capability coalition leader group. that meeting infused even more unity of effort and purpose across these eight coalitions. more than one dozen allies

leading to discuss our progress and coordinate the way ahead for crosscutting issues. the united states is grateful to denmark, estonia, france, geany, iceland, italy, latvia, lithuania, luxembourg, the norway, poland, and the united kingdom. they have all stepped up to lead to commit resources and personnel to this critical task. their leadership is a testament to the unity andunited states se because it's the right thing to doand because america cares when freedom is at risk. , we also stand by ukrain crucin

security. the united states would face grave new arrows in a world where aggression and autocracy are on march and where tyrants are emboldened and dictators think they can wipe out democracy off the map. so whe invest in ukraine's security, we invest in our own security. we strengthen group 's shared division -- shared vision of rules and rights and responsibilities. today, ukraine's survival is in danger. and america security is at risk. they do not have a day to waste and we do not have a day to spare either. so i leave here today fully determin keep u.s. security assistance and ammunitions flowing. that's a matter of survival and sovereignty for ukraine and a matter of and security for

america. make no mistake. putin is watching. the world is watching. history is watching. with that, general brown, the floor is yours. brown: two days after the start of world war ii, franklin osevelsachat the peace of all cs is in danger. russia shattered peace on the european continent. its continued efforts to invade and annex ukraine. for two years t d group has read the broken piece and ukraine effects peace for us all. this coalition of stefast achieve just and lasting peace on the continent. today european defense contact group met to discuss our commitments to support ukraine.

commitments turned into action by some 50 countries here in i want to echo many of the comments made today and thank secretary austen for his continued leader aor the international coalition. i also want to thank the defense minister who was with us today and forgetting ukraine and its forces with grid and resistance. i want to thank the nations who join us for the defense contact group to provide the invaluable support. eight decades ago, president roosevelt highlighted how security is interconnected. when conflict disrupted peace in europe in 1939 and threaten global security and plunge the world into conflict, today global security has been challenged once again. piece and ukraine

represents a risk for us all. just over two years ago putin amassed 180,000 troops on the borders of a■% free, independent and sovereign ukraine. the citizenry mobilized, intense fighting the people of ukraine of sacrifice their lives and their homes to beat back a larger and supposedly more capable military. despite the enormity of the challenge, ukraine halted initiass kyiv and launched successful offensive operations to retake territories and eastern parts of the country. ukrainian forces were able to retake more than half the territory that russia temporarily occupied in the early stages of conflict. russia has made some incremental gains, it has been at great cost of personnel and equipment. ukraine continues retrenching

their defenses to fortify their lines and maximize effects of their ammunition and supplies. beginning, ukraine has asked for the capability and training to stand and fight. for two years ukrainian forces have use this coalition support to repel russian attacks using innovative strategies and tactics. they have consistently imposed severe tolls on russian forces and capabilities. that because on about a field combined with collective pressure on the russian economy has forced russia to turn to the likes of iran and north korea. for two years we have shown the outcomes we can achieve when we act together and provideupport to ukraine. russia's plan is to wait out western will to support ukraine. this must not let that strategy work.

collectively allies and partners contributed $80 billion. e support doesn't help ukraine. it helps to bolster the offense -- defense of the united states and the world. it enables our own security. the collective support will ensure ukraine is successful today and into the future. vpas president biden and secrety austen have said, the u.s. will stand with ukraine. peace and security are more than just words.■6ç(st belief. peace and security require constant work and action. ukraine defense contact willts e and for all. thank you and i look forward to your questions. >> our first from the washington post. >> secretary austen, it's nice to see you. , how great is the

risk of a major russian breakthrough given the shortages ukraine is now facing and does that danger continue to growb as the u.s. supplemental is delayed further and do you think given the stakes you laid out in the fight in ukraine, do you thinksa responsibility to dip further into its own stockpile if the supplemental does not pass. for you, general brown, the stae discussing alternatives to a major ground operation in israel in raaf up. what alternative options exist for achieving israel's security goals in southern gaza including destroying the remaining hamas alionshoening aid delivery and endangering civilians sheltering their? could it achieve those goals through some combination of targeted raids and precision strikes? sec. austin: regarding a

potential russian breakthrough. what we've seen on the battlefield is a series of in gains by the russians. the point of the chairman made a couple minutes ago, these cost in terms of personnel and equipment. nonetheless we have seen some incremental gains. ■qas i have engaged my counterparts in the chief of defense in ukraine, theyeel confident in their ability to continue to defend their sovereign territory and hold the line. of course they need■v munitions, they need support in order to be able to continue to do that. and of course that's where the supplemental comes in and we certainly would hope that we would see the supplemental get past soon. i continue to see broad support in both chambers of congress for

ukraine and so optimistic we will see some action moving forward but again this is a thing you ca■3nnot absolutely predict. we have to work with congress to make sure ukraine receives the support it needs. the thing i would like to highlight is the united states is not doing this alone. as you witnessed today some 50 countries gathered for the 20th time to address security assistance for ukraine. and in that meeting i can tell you resolve and an effort to find a way to continue to provide that support. we are seeing allies and partners step up. the support from the united

states of america is very important. gen. brown: having not seen the detailed plans that is really -- israel might have for■h■> rafaht is hard to lay out the alternative. one of the things we've engaged with■< the israelis, we have had experience in operating in urban enwe continue to talk about the lessons learned we have on how to execute. at the same time we talk about how do we protect civilians. i can say from personal experience leading to parts of the arab campaign to defeat isis are focused on how you protect civilians and minimizing collateral a continuing conversation and that will be an aspect that we will

have and we continue to have with the israelis>> questioned . are there plans to transfer the ukraine defense content group into a natoucture? it would make things may be easier or is this the under -- or is this the other way around? sec. austin: thank you, good to see you again. the uec g has been a very effective forum. eeach of these meetings are well attended and each of these meetings again, our rtallies had support for ukraine. over time it will shift from a focus on the current fight solely to more of a focus on

building longer-term capability for ukraine and you are already starting to see with what we are doing. we countries that have volunteered to lead these coalitions that are focused on the criticalties ukraine will nd to defend the sovereign territory and deter aggression in the future. we will see that transition continue as we go forward. for right now we are focused on making sure we can get ukrainets to be successful today and in the near and midterms. >> secretary austin, ide warnedt protect civilians in gaza it

risk a tactical win but strategic defeat. since thattens of thousands of civilians in gaza killed or wounded and now they face potential famine. the u.s. considered withholding offensive weapons that israel has asked for and if not why do you believe the u.s'r drops but not leverage everything you can including conditions on weapons to open land routes and protect civilians? general brown, in light of the announcement it will end its military relationship with the united states, our u.s. forcif w would that impact u.s. terrorism operations? >>nk you nancy. taking us back to where this started on october 7, hamas launched a brutal attack against :■xisrael and killed 1200 israes

and took 200 israelis hostage. 100 of those hostages are still held by hamas. and so we acknowledge from the very beginning that israel has a fundamental right to be able to defend itself. and so we are going to continue to support them as they try to do that and ensure that they have what they need to defend their people. we also co ensuring that peoplen safe in gaza. the two things are not mutually exclusive. you can couct operations to defend your sovereign territory and protect your people, but by the same token protect civilians in the battle space and provide humanitarian assistance to those in need in the space as well. e to encourage the israel he leadership to do just

that, to make sure they are doing everything possible to get increasing amounts of humanitarian assistance into gaza. we are doing can do to help as well. you've seen us to air drops and certainly if we can increase the volume of humanitarian assistance by providing a maritime option that makes a lot of sense, we can maybeals provin a daily basis by some 2 million meals. tantial. israel has a right to defend itself, but there also a■a needo protect the civilians in the battle space. the two things are not mutually exclusive. ■h as you saw over the weekend there was about the

relationship. even since then there's been some mixed signals we receive and so if a decision is made ple we always make plans to different contingencies so we will continue to make plansr we. what is the impact on counterterrorism, that has impacted impacting the support. we will continue to look at nations within west africa others are working counterterrorism. with a coupleêin west africa ass talking more realistically. we all work together.

>> our final question. >> questions over thhours, the s committed a series of airstrikes , leaving thousands dead and injured. and we know about them, president biden urgent benjamin netanyahu not to launch an attack proper. my question is what is the position in this ground right now. thank you for the question. we have been clear about the need to prioritize the

protec and that a military operations should proceed without to evacuate the civilians once you evacuate. we communicated this a number of times on a presidents level on down, i've communicated with my counterpart a number of times. with any mitary plan any type of operational planning to account for and protect those civilians in the battle space. we've yet to see such a plan. we have an opportunity to engage in the leadership on that soon. >> thank you both very much.

ladies and gentlemen this concludes our press briefingoins today. national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] >> the u.s. house nown eturn eye working on several foreign related policies including legislation to block the sale of individual personal data by data brokers to foreign adversaries. yesterday they struck a deal