Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, brief the news media at the Pentagon, January 28, 2022.

Transcript

Well, good afternoon everybody. Um just a couple of notes at the top. I mean, obviously we’re all socially distance. Uh, so we’ve got the majority of the press covering this press conference or on zoom. And the the secretary and the chairman will be taking questions from both in the room and on zoom um given the unique circumstances and of course the pressing their pressing schedules today, I ask you to please limit your follow up questions and so we can get a chance to get through everybody. And uh and I’ll be uh coming back to uh to call it towards the end of it here as we get ready to close. Uh Both the secretary and the chairman have opening statements. I’ll stop talking now so that they can deliver their opening statements and then we’ll get right to the questions sector. Well, thanks john. And thanks to everybody, I’m really glad to be with you. I know you’re covering the situation in europe closely. And so I want to update you on what the department is doing to support Ukraine and to uphold our our ironclad commitment to our NATO allies. As you know, for months now, Russia has been deploying forces to Crimea in along Ukraine’s border, including in Belarus. It has progressed at a consistent and steady pace involving 10s of thousands of Russian troops and it is being supported by increased Russian naval activity in the northern Atlantic and the Mediterranean sea. Well, we don’t believe that President Putin has made a final decision to use these forces against Ukraine. He clearly now has that capability. And there are multiple options available to him, including the seizure of cities and significant territories, but also coercive acts or provocative political acts like the recognition of breakaway territories. Indeed, we’re seeing Russian state media spouting off now about alleged activities in eastern Ukraine. Now this is straight out of the Russian playbook and they’re not fooling us. We remain focused on Russian disinformation, including the potential creation of pretext for further invasion or strikes on Donbas in any Russian attack or further incursion into into Ukraine would not only ignite conflict, it would also violate the bedrock principles of national sovereignty, territorial integrity in self determination. So this is something that we’re taking very seriously, both as a strong partner of Ukraine and as one of 30 members of NATO who are unified in opposition to Russia’s attempts to undermine those core values and threaten peace and security in europe. So let me be clear on where things stand today. First conflict is not inevitable. There is still time and space for diplomacy. The United States in lock step with our allies and partners has offered Russia a path away from crisis and toward greater Security and the Department of Defense will continue to support those diplomatic efforts. Second, the United States remains committed to helping Ukraine defend itself through security assistance material And since 2014 we’ve committed more than $2.7 billion dollars in security assistance to Ukraine. That includes More security assistance to Ukraine in the past year, $650 million dollars than at any previous time. And so in December, President Biden authorized $200 million dollars in assistance which included additional javelins and other anti armor weapons, grenade launchers, large quantities of artillery and small arms, ammunition and other equipment. Those deliveries are ongoing. Indeed, another shipment, another shipment just arrived today and third the United States will stand shoulder to shoulder with our NATO allies and that includes reinforcing security on NATO’s eastern flank. And as you know, we placed thousands of US troops on prepare to deploy orders earlier this week. If NATO activates its response forces, these troops will be ready to go now. The situation on Ukraine’s borders is changing rapidly. But as we look ahead, there are a couple of things that we can count on. One. This department will continue to provide President Biden with options to defend our national security interest in response to Russian actions and two. We will stay united with our NATO allies. Earlier this week, I spoke with my polish counterpart yesterday, I spoke with my Romanian counterpart and this morning I had two very good conversations with my counterparts in France and Germany as we’ve made clear. In addition to the significant economic and diplomatic costs that Russia will incur a move on Ukraine will accomplish the very thing. Russia says it does not want a NATO NATO alliance, strengthen and resolved on its western flank. The United States will contribute to NATO’s response forces and we will coordinate with our NATO allies. We will make sure that they have the capabilities that they need to defend themselves. Article five is clear on this point. An attack against one NATO member is an attack against us all. And as President Biden has said, the United States hold this, hold this as a sacred obligation and we will do right by that commitment. And Mr. Putin can do the right thing as well. There’s no reason that this situation has to devolve into conflict. He can choose to deescalate, he can order his troops away. He can choose dialogue and diplomacy, whatever he decides. The United States, we’ll stand with our allies and partners. I want to briefly address to other items before we open it up for questions first, on Wednesday I was honored to join the President when he signed an executive order to help us deliver on the promise that all men and women in uniform should be able to serve their country free from fear of violence or harassment. This executive order will improve the military justice system’s response to sexual assault, harassment and related crimes. And I welcome it. And finally, as you know, yesterday I directed changes to the departments civilian harm mitigation and response policy oversight and processes. Within 90 days, we will unveil a plan to specify the range of actions that will take on civilian harm mitigation and response, including important steps, building on knowledge and best practices and tools for preventing and mitigating and responding to civilian harm. But I also ordered some immediate steps including the establishment of a civilian harm Center of Excellence, reporting to me that will compel us to learn from our mistakes and to make changes in stride. I know personally how hard we worked to avoid civilian harm and to abide by the law of armed conflict. But I’ve also said that we need to do better and we will this is a priority for me and we will ensure that we are transparent as we continue this important work. Until now, I’ll turn it over to the chairman for his thoughts. Thank you secretary and good afternoon everyone and and appreciate having an opportunity to address all of you. Ukraine has the right to be independent And they have been an independent country since 1991. Russia signed the Budapest Memorandum In 1994 with the United States and great Britain that guaranteed the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. It’s the policy of the United States government to continue to support an independent Ukraine and their goals and we are continuing our efforts to enhance their ability to protect themselves. We strongly encourage Russia to stand down and to pursue a resolution through diplomacy. Armed force should always be the last resort success here is through dialogue. The Russian Federation has amassed upwards at this time of over 100,000 ground forces, Air forces, naval forces, special forces, cyber electronic warfare, command and control, logistics, engineers and other capabilities along the Ukraine border. Ukraine is the second largest country in europe, with a population of 44 million. It’s divided in the middle by the river Dnipro. Prominent terrain includes flat, open plains and there are abundance of rivers and lakes and there’s a high water table and when that high water table freezes, it makes it for optimal conditions for cross country, tracked and wheeled vehicle maneuver. The city of Kiev Has a population of nearly three million people. Other major population centers include Kharkiv or Kharkov, Donetsk, Odessa, Dnipro and LVIv in the west. There are many people and highly dense population centers throughout Ukraine. And if war were to break out on the scale and scope that is possible, the civilian population will suffer immensely. Ukraine military Has about 150,000 active duty service members with many more and the reserves. They consist of multiple units, sea air land and they are currently disposed in a raid throughout Ukraine with the high density on the eastern section in the line of contact in the Donbas region, Ukraine has other units and they maintain artillery, air defense, airfields, bases, depots and they have a highly regarded territorial force and people’s militia. Their combat capabilities have improved Since 2014, when Russia annexed illegally Crimea but they need additional help to defend themselves, especially from an invasion force. The size that Russia he’s currently amassing if Russia chooses to invade Ukraine, it will not be cost free in terms of casualties or other significant effects. There is a small contingent of U. S. And NATO advisors and trainers currently in Ukraine. The United States has zero offensive combat weapons systems nor any permanent forces nor bases in Ukraine. Our role is limited and that we helped train, advise and assist with tactics, techniques and procedures. We participate in institutional development of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. As the Secretary of Defense is noted, we continue to provide military material support to Ukraine along with many other countries from NATO. And we are ready capable and prepared to uphold our obligation under treaty to NATO. As mentioned by the secretary. An attack against one NATO ally. It’s an attack against all NATO has significant military capability. NATO has approximately 130 plus brigades of maneuver forces not including U. S. Forces, 93 squadrons of high end fighters, four carriers, many more surface combatants. The military capability of NATO is very, very significant. In addition to bordering Russia and Belarus and Moldova, Ukraine has a border with four NATO members Poland Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. The president and the Secretary of defense have authorized the United States military to increase our readiness. In the event we have to reinforce or assist our NATO allies. War is not inevitable. As the secretary said, the right answer here is a diplomatic solution. I look forward to your questions. Thanks Chairman. We’ll turn the questions now and we’ll start with lita, thank you, thank you both for doing this. Um Mr. Secretary. Um First can you say whether any U. S. Troops have begun moving either into or in and around europe? And if not can you give us an idea when that might happen and then secondarily, how much risk is it to send additional U. S. Troops to the eastern flag? Russia even today has said they see little room for compromise right now does sending additional U. S. Forces to that region? Hand Putin an excuse to make an incursion into Ukraine. Mhm. Well thanks lito. You know I think you can assume that any time that we think about troop movements we always consider the about we always consider the impact that that’s going to have on on leaders minds and uh and their decision making. I just make two points. And you raised this earlier. We haven’t actually moved any troops, we put troops on on higher alert. Uh And the second point that I would make lita is that even if and when we do move troops, the purpose of those troops deploying would be to reassure allies or directly in support of NATO or both. So uh I think that again before we make any decisions on on readiness or or or movement of troops, we always take those those things into mind with what other leaders, uh the impact on other leaders. Yeah, just echo what the Secretary said. We haven’t deployed anybody. We haven’t moved anybody yet. We’re just increasing our readiness levels. And I think in terms of your question about provocation, with respect to Russia, that would depend on the size, scale, scope and type of forces that were deployed as to whether or not that was provocative to Russia. We certainly had no intent whatsoever that I’m aware of. Um putting offensive forces to attack Russia. And I don’t think that’s NATO’s intent at all. This is entirely engineered by Russia and President Putin as an overt act of coercion against Ukraine. And we’ll go to the phone now, john I think Helene is up Helene cooper. And so we’ll go to Helene next. Hi, thank you. Secretary Austin and General Milley for doing this. Um I have questions for both of you for Secretary Austin, uh you said in your opening statement that Vladimir Putin clearly now has the capability to enter Ukraine, Has he put in place the military hardware and troops that he would need to launch a full scale invasion of all of Ukraine the whole country. And for both you and General Milley, Uh both of you have been military officers for four decades. You served in the Gulf War in Iraq and Afghanistan after 9-11. You’ve seen North Korea and Iran pursue their own nuclear ambitions. Um I’m wondering does this feel different to you? How would you characterize this crisis with Ukraine and Russia in terms of its potential to spark a great power conflict? Well, in terms of whether or not he has enough forces to conduct a full scale invasion. Helene, you heard the chairman say earlier that he’s got north of 100,000 troops in the border region. That gives him a number of options. And what he’s done is he’s continued to move troops and resources into the region is increase his options. Uh And uh and so we won’t predict what is where his decisions will take him but we remain concerned about the range of options that that he could pursue uh and will stay focused on this problem set. Um And I’ll turn to the chairman here for his thoughts in terms of the size of the forces that are mass right now. Um they could it’s I mean, it’s potential, we don’t think there’s been a decision as the secretary already made that point. But sure, 100,000 troops and you’ve got a combined arms formations, ground maneuver, artillery, rockets, you’ve got air and all the other piece parts that go with it. Uh There’s a potential that they could launch on very very little warning that’s possible. Um And there’s a wide scale of options that are available to Russian leadership and the best option they should pick, in my view is a diplomatic solution to resolve whatever differences they have in terms of how this feels Helene, your second part of the question as we look at that number of troops and that that that amount of hardware that’s in the border region, it’s far and away exceeds what we typically see uh them do for uh for exercises. And so it’s very concerning where this could lead us in terms of a type of conflict or where it could put the put the region in terms of you know, future activities. I won’t bother to speculate on on that, Helene, I would just say that we’re focused on making sure that we do our part to provide the president options to support and reinforce NATO. Uh if in fact he does make a decision that to to invade Ukraine, Angelina, you know, it doesn’t feel different. Sure it does feel different in terms of what we’ve seen in the past of Russian exercises etcetera. This is larger in scale and scope uh and the massing of forces than anything we have seen um uh in recent memory and I think you’d have to go back quite a while into the Cold War days to see something of this magnitude. Uh they do annual exercises and we watch those closely. But this is different. Um So we’ll we’ll continue to monitor very very closely. But yes it does feel different. We’ll come back to the room and go go out to David since the president has ruled out sending U. S. Troops into Ukraine, does that mean that the U. S. Military would not be used if an evacuation of Kiev became necessary. Um As you’ve indicated uh David, the president’s been real clear that he does not intend to put combat troops into into Ukraine for the purpose of conducting combat operations. Um Any troops that we deploy if we deploy troops to the region or those troops that are already in the region have have multiple capabilities. And so as we conduct our planning, we always look at a range of options that uh that what you know, we may have to pursue. But but again to the point that you made earlier, David, the president has been clear about not employing troops in Ukraine for combat purposes. What is that rule out using U. S. Troops for evacuation purposes? I won’t speculate David, but I would say that we prepare for a range of activities and options and that’s what we’ve always done and that’s what you can expect us to do going forward. And and David, the State Department has issued travel advisories, uh those are in effect right now. Uh And and those advisories say where is the effect of don’t travel to Ukraine? American Citizen and if you’re in Ukraine you should consider leaving Ukraine and you can go to the state of our website and see what they’ve put up advisories before Afghanistan too. And it didn’t for Stallman evacuation crisis. That’s also correct. Rest assured David, that would whatever task the United States military is called upon to uh to accomplish will be prepared to to to do it. Let’s go back to the phone and reach out to Phil Stewart. So yes, I have a question for both of you. Uh Secretary Austin, President Biden’s decision to rule out deploying U. S. Forces to combat Russia early in the crisis um must have impacted uh Putin’s calculus in some way. How do you assess that it’s impacted his calculus? And do you have any concerns about pursuing a strategy um other than than ambiguity And as far as far as deterrence goes and to Chairman Milley, if President Biden responds by deploying us troops and nature’s NATO’s eastern flank or with economic sanctions, how do you anticipate that Russia will retaliate? How are you preparing for potential retaliation in europe? And and and how are you preparing for potential retaliation against the homeland, perhaps by Russian use of cyber warfare. Thank you. Thanks Phil. I won’t speculate about what or how President Putin is thinking, I think that’s been the question uh that everybody has, you know, what if he did something like this, what what would he possibly want to achieve? So I won’t speculate on that. I would say that our focus is to make sure that whatever happens, we’re prepared to reassure our allies in the region and support NATO’s efforts. And of course this is about NATO and the alliance? And I would remind you that NATO is a defensive alliance. Again, you’ve heard the chairman talk about the resources that uh that NATO has. Uh and I think there are considerable resources and again it’s important to make sure that we keep the alliance, the alliance united and Phil I would just echo that, you know, the the uniform U. S. Military is prepared to do whatever were directed to do. And we are increasing our readiness postures for units uh and and we’ll be prepared to execute whatever the President Secretary of Defense uh require of us with respect to your question about the homeland and cyber and all of that. We have capabilities. I’m not gonna go into them here at the at the microphone, but we’ve got a significant amount of capabilities to defend uh and do whatever is necessary to protect the homeland. Okay, let me stick with the phone here and I think Nancy Yousef is out there, Nancy. Thank you sir. I have a question for each of you Mr. Secretary this week, we heard about military commitments from Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain among others to defend the alliance. I’d like to talk to about one decision in particular and that is Canada’s decision to keep as many as 400 trainers in Ukraine. The US has half that amount now with the US, consider sending more trainers or advisers or doesn’t believe they’re not there to deter Russian aggression. And Chairman Milley, do you believe that the Ukrainian armed forces have taken all the necessary steps to defend against a large scale Russian invasion? Or do you fear that in their push to not provoke panic, the Ukrainian government has not done enough. Thank you. Thanks Nancy. Let me at the top. Thank Canada and our other allies for what they continue to do alongside us to support Ukraine. I applaud their efforts and certainly we have had advisors and trainers there since 2014 as the chairman indicated earlier. Uh and uh and we remain focused on providing uh all of the assistance in terms of ah training and advising that Ukraine feels it needs and we worked that issue with them on a consistent basis. I would also say that it’s all it’s less about the specific number but about more about the capability that you bring and what you’re focusing on. And in some cases it may take several more types of trainers to do to train on a specific event or or or skill in other cases. Less so. So rest assured that we are in constant communication with with Canada and the UK and everyone that’s that’s providing assistance to Ukraine at this point in time. And for me, I’m I’m not going to comment on the composition and the disposition of the readiness of the Ukraine forces in any kind of detail, I don’t think that’d be appropriate for me to do that. Um Given the given the current situation, Barb question for both of you, Mr. Secretary, you’ve talked a bit here today about us troops providing reassurance and deterrence to the eastern flank of europe. Can you help people understand a little bit more about what that means in terms of what U. S. Troops would be doing to fulfill that mission? How do you know when you’re done? You don’t send troops unless you have an exit strategy. What would it take for you to ever trust Vladimir Putin and General Milley? You laid out some pretty dire scenarios if the Russians decided to make that full move. Could you explain a little bit more? You you mentioned, for example, the capital Kiev, um, how disastrous could it be in your assessment? Are you looking at massive civilian casualties? Are you looking at massive refugee flows, the impact on the security of europe that has existed for so many decades. If the scenario you’re laying out were to come true? Thank you both. In terms of our reassurance efforts. Barb as you know, we have had a number of forces in the in the region training with uh the eastern European countries, uh, those forces, uh and that that’s that’s been going on for quite some time and those forces uh provide great value. Just their presence reassures our partners there that that we’re interested in them interested in helping them the types of things we do with them routinely is is trained with them and enable them and and and really increase their level of readiness. Uh and uh and so that’s been very helpful to them. Uh and it has strengthened our bonds with our with our allies and partners in the region. Um These are temporary deployments and and so again, we will continue to sort sort this out as we go forward. But again, we are focused on NATO, we’re focused on reassuring our allies and that’s what this is all about in terms of trusting Putin. I don’t think this is about trusting Putin, This is about our allies, trusting us. And so that’s really what we’re focused on. Uh and and we, you know, Mr. Putin uh at some point in time we will reveal what he’s thinking. But again, I’m not sure that he’s made the final decisions on what he’s gonna do yet. And Barbara, let me first say that as a as a secretary set up front right now, we don’t think final decisions have been made to conduct any sort of offensive operation into Ukraine by the Russians. Uh and we firmly believe there’s still room for diplomatic outcome here. Having said that given the type of forces that are arrayed the ground maneuver forces, the artillery, the ballistic missiles, the air force’s all of it packaged together if that was unleashed on Ukraine, it would be significant, very significant and it would result in a significant amount of casualties. Uh and you can imagine what that might look like in dense urban areas along roads and so on and so forth. It would be horrific. It would be terrible and it’s not necessary and we think a diplomatic outcome is the way to go here very quickly followed. Can you do you have a view? Can you either of you can you keep us forces from having to deal with Russian forces directly? If you’re reinforcing eastern europe, for example, can will U. S. Forces potentially be in missions against Russian forces? Can you keep them away from Russian forces? Again, our presence there helps to reassure our our partners on the in the front line countries there and You know, barb that we have an Article five commitment to our NATO partners. Uh and so if if if Putin were to attack one of those countries, then of course that commitment, that’s an ironclad commitment. The president has said a number of times that uh that we will live up to that commitment. And so but but again, our focus is not on fighting in Ukraine, it’s on reassuring our NATO partners and allies. Just one more. One more sure time for one more. Yeah. Yeah. So let’s go to louis in a from ABC. Yes, sir, thank you to both of you for doing this precinct today. Um I’d like to go back to something that lita asked at the top and the way that you framed the response about provocations and how they’re perceived um by Russia. Typically you do not disclose, prepare to deploy orders um particularly when you’re talking about large numbers of forces like the 8500 that you put out this week. Um What was the calculus in doing that? Are you sending a message to Russia? And is it possible that the way they see that um they may see that themselves as a provocation. Again, our focus is on making sure that we’re ready to to look to live up to our commitment to NATO. Should the NATO response force be activated by NATO? Uh This uh this putting our forces on a shorter string enables us to get there in a in a shorter period of time. And again, I think that provides reassurance to NATO that that we’re ready to live up to our commitments in terms of what Putin thinks and and uh and the way he feels about things. Again, it’s hard to predict, we we take those kinds of things into consideration. But but again, if you look at the forces that he has moved into the region and that he continues to move into the region, uh you know, there was no provocation that caused him to move those forces. So uh you know, we’ll continue to listen to what he says and watch what he does German yeah, I would echo all of that with respect to the P. T. D. O. Forces, You know, for 20 years. Iraq Afghanistan etc. We’ve announced when forces are rotating etcetera. Uh We attempt to be transparent with you and Congress and the American people on uh the use and the deployment of military forces. Uh we alerted based on the direction from the President Secretary defense, we increase the readiness status of these forces. So the forces themselves have been told. Uh and we think it’s a better from from a transparency standpoint better to inform you the media and the American people and Congress of the forces that are out there that are being alerted. In addition to that the piece about uh you know assuring and deterring with respect to our NATO allies. But we think it’s also important to be transparent with you and the American people about what we’re doing with your military. Thank you all we have to get going. Thank you so much. Gentlemen.