In total, approximately 220 aircraft and more than 50 ships will take part in the exercise. This exercise will emphasize and test critical activities, ranging from the reception of reinforcements and interoperable command and control to Combined Joint Operations in a highly intense combat environment. This is the ninth iteration of this multi-domain extreme cold weather exercise designed to enhance our collective military capabilities in the demanding arctic environment. Marines will join some 30,000 military forces from 27 NATO ally and partner nations for the Norwegian led exercise Cold Response, which kicks off Monday the 14th of March. Now on another note, approximately 3,000 U.S. The call really just concluded, so I don't have much context to provide for you there. We'll have a more detailed readout of that call later.
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I might add just before coming out here, the Secretary wrapped up a phone call with the Ukrainian Defense Minister, Minister Reznikov as one of his ongoing series of calls with counterparts.
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Knowing full well that that effort is in no way made more effective or less harmful to the Ukrainian people by steps we take or decisions we make, which lead to an escalation of that conflict. We will continue to look for ways to help them do that. We also know the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as average Ukrainian citizens are defending their country with great skill and bravery. We look forward to exploring ways to deepen that partnership in this critical moment. Poland is a valued ally, and a very good friend. Again, we thank Poland for their incredible level of support and cooperation. And we will continue to pursue those options. We also believe that there are alternative options that are much better suited to support the Ukrainian military in their fight against Russia. Polish generosity is clearly on display for the whole world to see.īut at this time, we believe that provision of additional fighter aircraft provides little increased capabilities at high risk. We are grateful for the superb support and cooperation of our Polish allies who continue to host thousands of our troops and our welcoming more, as I said - more than 1 million Ukrainian refugees. Therefore, we also assess the transfer of the MIG-29s to Ukraine to be high risk. And could result in significant Russian reaction that might increase the prospects of a military escalation with NATO. And finally, the intelligence community has assessed the transfer of MIG-29s to Ukraine may be mistaken as escalatory. Therefore, we believe that the gain from transferring those MIG-29s is low. We assess that adding aircraft to the Ukrainian inventory is not likely to significantly change the effectiveness of the Ukrainian Air Force relative to Russian capabilities. Secondly, Ukrainian Air Force currently has several squadrons of fully mission capable aircraft. Although Russian air capabilities are significant, their effectiveness has been limited due to Ukrainian strategic operational and tactical ground-based air defense systems, surface to air missiles, and MANPADS. The slowed Russian advance in the north, and a contested airspace over Ukraine is evidence alone of that. We along with other nations continue to send them these weapons and we know that they're being used with great effect. In particular, anti-armor, and air defense. First, we believe the best way to support Ukrainian defense is by providing them the weapons and the systems that they need most to defeat Russian aggression.
Let me walk you through the reasons for this. But he stressed that we do not support the transfer of additional fighter aircraft to the Ukrainian Air Force at this time, and therefore have no desire to see them in our custody, either. Secretary Austin thanked the Minister for Poland's willingness to continue to look for ways to assist Ukraine. Now the Secretary also had a chance to discuss with Minister Blaszczak the proposal to send MIG-29 fighter aircraft to Ukraine.Īnd specifically, the notion of doing so by way of transfer to U.S. The Secretary also made clear how much he's looking forward to attending in person, next week's NATO Defense Ministerial in Brussels. He noted the hard work and the diligence with which the Pols have been welcoming and taking care of Ukrainians who continue to flee across their border some 1.2 million now. Including those who have been recently sent there on temporary orders. He thanked Minister Blaszczak for Poland's extraordinary support of U.S. So first and foremost, I want to read out for you that Secretary Austin spoke with his Polish counterpart this morning to discuss Russia's unprovoked aggression in Ukraine.
KIRBY: Couple things at the top, and we'll get to your questions.
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