![]() What we are doing is exactly what President Biden told President Putin and what President Biden said publicly many times we would do if President Putin attacked Ukraine, and that is provide security assistance to the Ukrainians that is "above and beyond" what we were already providing to help defend their country. The President has been clear we will not be directly engaged in this conflict, either by sending American troops to fight in Ukraine or by attacking Russian forces. The second objective the President outlined in the op-ed is that we do not seek a war between NATO and Russia. These systems will be used by the Ukrainians to repel Russian advances on Ukrainian territory, but they will not be used against targets in Russian territory. And tomorrow, we'll be announcing the 11th package of security assistance under the Presidential Drawdown Authority.Īs the President wrote in the piece I mentioned, that package will contain longer-range systems, specifically HIMARS and munitions that will enable the Ukrainians to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield from a greater distance inside Ukraine and to help them repel Russian advances. These countries are providing security assistance to Ukraine. We have brought together a coalition of nearly 40 countries, including through Secretary Austin's Defense Consultative Group. And just to remind people, that is more than $5 billion in security assistance since this administration came to office and more than $4.5 billion in security assistance since the start of the latest Russian invasion of Ukraine for a country that has an annual defense budget of about $6 billion. The United States has been the single-largest provider of security assistance to Ukraine since the conflict began. Since the President took office, we have committed an historic amount of security assistance to Ukraine, which they have been using effectively to defend their democracy. To do that, we will continue to provide the Ukrainians with weapons and equipment, including more advanced rocket systems, so they can defend themselves the battlefield and so they are in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table. Our goal is straightforward: We want to secure a democratic, independent, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine with the means to deter and defend itself against further aggression. In his piece, the President lays out the aims of the United States as the war goes on and as we near the 100-day mark since Russia's latest invasion of Ukraine. Tonight, the President published an op-ed in the New York Times on how the United States has rallied much of the world to support Ukraine with unprecedented military, humanitarian, and financial assistance in the face of Russian aggression. I'll kick it over to our speakers to do opening remarks. Thank you for joining the National Security Council background call this evening on Ukraine security assistance.Īs a reminder of the ground rules, this call will be on background and the speakers will be attributable to "senior administration officials." The contents of the call will be embargoed until the end of the call.įor your awareness but not for your reporting, our speakers this evening are.
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