>> secretary lloyd austin and general mark milley.

the secretary and chairman will each deliver opening remarks and have time to take a few questions. i will moderate the questions and call on journalist. i ask that you limit your questions due to our take schedule. secretary austin? sec. austin: good afternoon. we just concluded our 10th had a successful meeting of ukraine defense contact group. before i get to that important work, i want to say a few words about a troubling episode yesterday. on tuesday, russian aircraft engaged in dangerous, reckless, unprofessional behavior in the international airspace over the black sea. two russian jets started feeling on unmanned aircraft conducting routine operations in international airspace. one russian jet struck our mp nine aircraft, resulting in a crash.

this hazardous episode is a part of a pattern of aggressive, risky, and unsafe actions by russian pilots in international airspace. i just got off the phone with my russian counterpart. as i said repeatedly, he is important that great powers the models of transparency and communication. in the united states, we will condense the united states will continue to fly and operate wherever international law allows. it is incumbent upon russia to operate its military aircraft in a safe and professional manner. let me turn to the important work of this contact group. today, our ask ordinary allies and partners reaffirmed and resolved in supporting ukraine's fight for freedom.

we were joined again by some 50 nations of goodwill from around the globe. state all understand that ukraine's battle to defend itself from russian aggression is vital for everyone who values the core principles of sovereignty, self-determination, and freedom. today, were joined by mr. alexey razuvaev. he comes to each meeting with a clear message for the next steps of ukraine's resistance to russia's campaign of conquest. in the presentations from him and his team, they underscore the continued urgency of our support. this contact group has pushed hard to ensure that ukraine can defend itself from putin's imperial aggression. ralph ukrainians stood firm during russia's ground invasion with the help of their new

aircraft missiles with contact -- which contact group countries have provided. russia hopes to grind down ukraine in a war of attrition, but ukraine has been supplied by more than 40 countries. meanwhile, russia has had to depend on iran and north korea and has had to use the equipment dating back to world war ii. present is running on and running out of france -- russia is running out of capabilities and out of friends. putin now has proof that the u.s. and the contact will support ukraine for the long haul. but putin still hopes he can wear down ukraine and wait us out, so we cannot let up and we will not. ukraine does not have any time to waste and i heard clearly today that our fellow contact group members also know that we

have to deliver swiftly and fully on our promise commitments. that includes delivering capabilities to the battlefield and ensuring that ukrainian soldiers get the training, spare parts, and maintenance that they need to use these new systems as soon as possible. we will continue to dig deep for new donations and today we heard updates on our progress and some significant new commitments. sweden will provide leopard tanks and defense components. norway is partnering with the united states to donate they have systems to ukraine. the netherlands is making great progress in initiating new contract to ensure that new capabilities continue to arrive on the battlefield. i want to thank slovenia for its latest contribution, which helps

meet several of ukraine's party requirements.for over a year , donations like these have been crucial to ukraine's fight for 70 and we have provided crucial combat capabilities and that ukraine's defenders will use them to repel russia and exercise initiative and to create favorable conditions on the field. -- on the battlefield. for ukraine to defend itself, we must keep going. we are going to help ukraine sustain the tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and other armored vehicles making their way to the front lines. we are going to continue urgently training ukrainian soldiers on the capabilities that we are providing and on a combined arms maneuver tactics that they need to succeed. we are going to keep looking

into our stocks and budget to resupply ukraine throughout the year. we are going to continue our important work in lockstep with ukrainian partners to maintain accountability for the security assistance we are providing. above all, we are going to stay united. together we help ukraine to fight to live free and together we are hoping to show that rules matter and together we are helping to advance our shared security in an open world of rules. gen. milley: good afternoon, everyone. thank you secretary austin for your leadership. this is our 10th contact group. meetings and donations would not be happening without the incredible leadership of secretary austin. your direction remains critical to the future success of the

group and also thank you to the ukrainian ministry of defense. my counterpart was on the call today, but i have talked to him several times in the past week and the deputy chief of defense who represents him. all of them continue to lead ukraine in the fight for freedom. also thanks to the ministers of defense and chief of defense from 51 participants in today's meeting, including nato and the european union. during the meeting and continue to provide critical support to ukraine. nation is determining what they can to ensure ukraine has the means to defend itself against the illegal and unprovoked russian invasion. it has been nearly 13 months since russia invaded the sovereign nation of ukraine. ukraine has been independent since 19 and one and has presented no threat to russia.

russia launched and has continued for over a year now a war of aggression in flavor violation of internet -- flagrant violation of international law. this is and remains a russian frontal assault on rules-based international order that for 80 years. in the face of this aggression, this group remains unified. nato is united, the people of ukraine are unyielding, standing steadfast in the face of the russian onslaught. russia remains isolated. military stocks are rapidly depleted. there soldiers are demoralized, untrained, unmotivated conscripts and convex. -- convits. their leadership is failing them. russia is increasingly relying on other countries, such as iran and north korea.

they are using iranian drones to continue to terrorize ukrainian civilians. this relationship is built on the pool bonds of oppressing -- cruel bonds on oppressing freedom and maintaining tyranny. three people will not return from the shackles of tiered. ukrainians remain defiant in their veins and have the broad support of the united states and the international community. the battle of bakhmut continues. with robust defenses, ukraine has fixed the russian forces and are exacting on the russian military. ukraine remain strong. they are capable and trained. ukrainian soldiers are strong in their combat units, their tanks are fighting vehicles and armored vehicles are only going to bolster the front lines.

ukrainians continue to target logistics and communication systems of russia. lacking effective leaders and absent the proper equipment, this is a grinding attrition warfare that russia is trying to execute. wave after wave of russian soldiers are thrown into the chaos of work, -- war, absent any supervised ordination and direction. russia continues its war of choice. right now, there is fighting in bakhmut and russians are making small tactical advances but at great cost. elsewhere, the frontline remain static with a significant change of artillery but no significant maneuver gains by at the site right now, there is a significant effort to build up ukrainian military in terms of equipment, munitions and training in order to enable ukraine to defend itself.

increased ukrainian capability will allow ukrainian leadership to develop and execute a variety of options to achieve their objectives and bring this work to a successful conclusion. this is an active uterine -- brutal aggression by putin with complete disregard for human life, both civilian and military. the russians are killing civilians in large attacks on civilian infrastructure in densely populated areas. the poorly equipped russian forces are conducting mindless attacks and sacrificing hundreds per day. the political objectives that putin intended to achieve 384 da ys ago, you should be obvious they are no longer achievable. putin can end this war and he can end it today. free people are not easily conquered. the ukrainian people are free.

he will never give up on their fight to stay free. two weeks ago, the u.s. released another assistance package which included ammunition, artillery, vehicle maintenance. 9 countries have pledged over 150 tanks. this group that met today is providing air defense, artillery, talking artillery, armor, ammunition. that will be critical. k broad mix of air defense systems have been promised. they will protect the skies over kyiv and the free cities of ukraine. artillery and armor will enable forces in operations. long-range fires have challenged russia's ability to sustain air forces. ukrainian soldiers wear blue and yellow. but the colors of 50 over nations that met today stand side ukraine to support the principles of rules-based

international order. the system is in place to prevent aggression and uphold liberty and sovereignty. that system preserves peace and provides benefits throughout the globe. as president biden and secretary austin and others have set -- said, we will remain committed for as long as it takes. thank you. i look forward to your questions. >> mr. secretary, you said you spoke with your counterpart. can you give us a sense of the russians' reaction to the call? did they suggest to you that this was an accident or intentional or that it never happened? can you give us a better read out of your call? general milley, you spoke of your counterpart? are you intending to do so? do you believe after what you have seen that this was intentional?

is this considered an act of war? sec. austin: thanks for the question i will not speak for my counterpart, cannot lie get into the details of our discussion. -- nor will i get into the details of our discussion. i will reiterate that the u.s. will operate wherever international law allows. we take any potential for escalation seriously. that is why i believe it is important to keep lines of communication open. i think it is really key that he are able to pick up the phone and engage each other. i think that will help to prevent this calculation for -- prevent miscalculation going forward. gen. milley: on the intentionality, i do not know. i plan to talk to my counterpart. have a scheduled call.

was it intentional? do not know. we know that the interception was intentional and the aggressive behavior was intentional and unsafe. the actual contact of the russian fighter, he physical contact, not sure, but i can tell you with certainty that we have absolute evidence of the.contact . it was aggressive. we had video evidence. there is no question that that part of it was intentional. the actual contact of the aircraft, i am not so sure. as far as an act of war goes, i am not going to go there. incidents happen. we do not seek armed conflict with russia. i believe that at this point, we should investigate and move on, but we will continue to exercise

our rights in international airspace. >> thank you for your time today. secretary austin, some presidential candidates have declared that ukraine should not be primarily. the biden administration has promised to support ukraine. are you concerned that election rhetoric could undermine support for ukraine in congress or with the american people? chairman knowing, -- milley, the jets cannot and the black sea where the u.s. has not had military vessels for more than a year. was it fair to say that the u.s. will not recover this mq9? what value might this have two russia, either strategically or for propaganda? sec. austin: thanks.

in terms of the importance of ukraine, we have seen bipartisan support for providing security assistance to ukraine up to this point. i expect we will continue to see that going forward. we have heard from senior leaders on both sides say that. i expect we will continue to enjoy their support, but ukraine matters. it matters not just to ukraine or the u.s. but to the world. this is about rules-based international order. it is about one country's ability to wake up one day and change the borders of its neighbor and annex its neighbor's sovereign territory. countries around the world do not think that is a good idea. is why you have seen 50 -- that is why you have seen 50

countries come to these meetings of the ukraine defense contact group. they continue to work to ensure that ukraine gets everything it needs to be successful. it will remain our focus going forward. gen. milley: on the recovery, we know where it landed. it is probably 4000 or 5000 feet of water. that is the. secondly, we have allies and friends in the area. we will work through recovery operations. we will leave it at that. it probably broke up and there is probably not a lot to recover. as far as the loss of anything of sensitive intelligence, we would take mitigating measures and we did. we are confident that whatever was of value is no longer of value. >> kelly watson, cbs. >> territory austin, --

secretary austin, general milley mentioned a video. you are working to declassify the video. what does it show? what will it be released? why hasn't it been released yet? general milley, secretary austin talked about the pattern of behavior. how often is russia conducting harassing maneuvers? have they increased in recent weeks? sec. austin: as you know, we are still going through videos and photographs to ascertain what we can, but in terms of what the video shows, we remain confident in the facts we have conveyed thus far. that will not change in terms of what happened and how it happened. we will work through as quickly

as we can to evaluate videos and we will let you know when we have something we can provide. gen. milley: in terms of russia's behavior, this is part of a pattern. the u.s. and russian military forces operate in proximity to each other throughout the world. we are operating in the middle east and syria. we had areas in alaska that come in contact with maritain -- maritime areas outside of hawaii and in europe and ukraine. the fact that we operate in proximity to each other is not particularly unusual. we do try to establish channels in order to make sure that our forces are physically separated and we not have incidents like this. but there is a pattern of behavior recently where russia has been more aggressive. he has not -- we have not completed our analysis as to

why. there is a pattern of behavior. we have to figure out with the way ahead is. that was one of the fundamental reasons for the secretary's call and for my call. >> nancy yusuf, wall street journal. >> general milley, you said earlier the u.s. has allies and friends in the region. am i to take from that that the u.s. is prepared to request that allies survey and possibly recover the drone? is the expectation that the u.s. does not intend to recover the drone? secretary austin, in brussels, you said that bakhmut was largely symbolic. are you concerned that ukrainian investment in bakhmut takes away resources that could be applied to these spring offensive? sec. austin: tyler go first. --

i will go first. nancy, let me applied the valor, persistence that we have seen from the ukrainian soldiers. they have done amazing things in bakhmut. the russians have been working to take bakhmut for some seven months and have not been successful because of the diligence and commitment and focus of the ukrainian soldiers. in terms of the significance of bakhmut, i would say -- i would point to the fact that president zelenskyy is fighting this fight. he will make the calls on what is important and what is not to his forces and whether he needs to reposition or remain in bakhmut. the point i would make is that

if he does make a call to reposition at some point, it does not mean that the war is lost. did they mean and probably will mean that he is positioning himself to intend an advantage -- to maintain an advantage. is the key there, but whether or not he is there for how long, that is president zelenskyy's call. our goal is to make sure we are supporting him in whatever decision he is going to make. we are generating combat power to a degree that we believe will provide opportunity to change the dynamics on the battlefield at some point going forward. whatever point that is, whatever they want to do in the future, i think deplatforms, the training, the maintenance we are providing will make a significant difference. as we work through all of this

with our allies and partners in detail, we are on pace. that is in large measure due to the professionalism of our forces who are conducting the training, but also forces around europe. as the chairman pointed out, there are a number of countries conducting training in their countries, providing various platforms, and we are focused on how we will sustain those platforms. gen. milley: on the question of recovery, i would not read too much do what i said. we have allies in the region. we do not have vessels in the black sea at this time. as i said at the outset, this is probably about 4000 or 5000 feet of water. we probably -- do not know for certain yet, it will be days before we have actual facts on what debris is there -- it probably sank.

any recovery would be difficult. if there is reason to believe we could recover something, that would be something to consider. but we do have options and friends and allies in the region. >> time for one more. >> thank you for your time. two questions. chairman nelly -- milley, there were headlines in turkiye. eventually, the minister of foreign affairs summoned the ambassador to provide an explanation. what was the message behind your visit? to secretary austin, new f-16s have been requested and also modernization kits for the existing fleet.

all karen saying -- ankara is saying that lack of approval as soon as possible would not only undermine turkish security but the security of nato. i would like to ask you your insights on the assessment and your thoughts about providing f-16s to turikye. sec. austin: turikye is a nato ally. we have a long-standing relationship with this country. we intend to do everything possible to keep it that way. it is important to us that we maintain operability between our nato allies. that will always be a focus, a priority. as you know, typically, we do not comment on pending equipment sales prior to congress being

notified. i do not have any comments on that particular case, but i would highlight the fact that turkiye remains a value powell -- remains a valuable partner. we will strengthen our relationship. gen. milley: for my visit, it is nothing more than a routine visit to determine the purpose of the mission and see how you're doing and to assess thanks -- things. our troops in syria are at risk, attacked from time to time by various actors in the area. i will make sure the mission is validated. turkiye with respect toturkiye, -- with respect to turkiye, turkiye in the u.s. have a

common interest -- the enduring defeat of isis. isis was destroyed but there are still remnants of the organization. there are still refugee and prison camps. we are hoping to secure those. it is in our interest and in turkiye's interest and something i needed to do. it is perfectly appropriate for the chairman to check on the forces. >> secretary austin, general milley, thank you very much concludes the time we have available today. thank you ray much -- very much. >> here's what is coming up tonight on c-span. first q&a with american history

professor elizabeth cobbs, on the history of feminism in the united states. then the prime minister takes questions from members of the house of commons. including the suspension of a bbc sport toast following his criticism of the conservative party -- party led government. resident biden then announces another submarine deal with australia and the united kingdom. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more. including cox. >> homework can be hard. squatting in a diner for internetwork is even harder. that is why we are providing lower income students access to affordable internet, so homework can just be homework. cox connects to compete. >> cox supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy.