companies and more, including sparklight. >> the greatest place you call home. at sparklight it is our home too and we are facing our greatest challenge. that's why we are working around the clock to keep you connected. we are doing our part so it is a little easier for you to do yours. sparklight supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. wednesday the house oversight committee continues the republican light impeachment inquiry into president biden with testimony from a former associate of rudy giuliani former associates of hunter biden will also testify with live coverage starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span three, c-span now, and c-span.org. it out to remarks by defense secretary lloyd austin and general cq brown who spoke with reporters about the

defense contract at a meeting in germany. urgently needed capabilities, especially air defense and armor and artillery ammunition. we are proud to stand with them. we recently announced more u.s. security assistance for ukraine

valued three hundred million dollars. our allies and partners continue to step up. the united states must als and the ukraine people -- ukrainian people will not let putin prevail, and neither 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, and that's a far cry from the some-50 nations of goodwill from all around the world who gathered again today. our allies and partners are here because they understand the stakes, and ukraine's friends continue to come up with inti new commitments to provide ukraine with urgently-needed capabilities, especially air defense and armor and artillery ammunition, and we're proud to stand with them. that's why we recently announced more u.s. secu million, and our allies and partners continue to step up and the united states must also. over nearly two years, this contact group has generated more than $88 billion in security assistance commitments for ukraine, and that includes 15 u.s. allies who are committing more to ukraine than us as a share of their gdp. now, we continue to focus on two tracks. first, we're working together to provide near-term support for ukraine's troops, and second we're hard at work with ukrainian -- with ukrains to plan its long-term defense and deterrence. this long-term support is rooted in the capability coalitions and they are now up and running.

coalitions will let ukraine's friends coordinate our support for years to come. they crerent nimble and sustained approach to ukraine's long-term security. this morning i convened the first meeting of the capability coalition leader group. that meeting infused even more unity of effort and purpose acmore than one dozen allies leading to discuss our progress and coordinate the way ahead for crosscutting issues. the united states is grateful to estonia france, germany, iceland italy latvia, lithuania, luxembourg, the netherlands, norway, poland, and the united kingdom.

they have all stepped up to lead the capability coalitions and to commit resources and personnel to this critical task. their leadership is a testament to the unity and resolve today. unit ukraine because it's the right thing to do. and because ame freedom is at risk. , we also stand by ukraine because it's crucial to our own security. face grave new arrows in a world where aggression and autocracy are on the march and where tyrants out democracy off the map. so when we invest in ukraine's security, we invest in our own security. we strengthen this contact group 's shared division -- shared vision of rules and rights and responsibilities.

today, ukraine's survival is in danger. erica 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 determined to keep u.s. security assistance and ammunitions flowing. a matter of survival and sovereignty for ukraine and a matter of honor 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. gen. brown: two days after the start of world war ii, franklin roosevelt said in a fireside chat the peace of all countries is in danger. russia shattered peace on the european continent. itsfor two years the defense

contract group has reaffirmed the broken piece and ukraine effects peace for us all. this coalition of steadfast allies and partners continues to work to achieve just 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 attendance. i want to echo many of the comments made tod and thank secretary austen for his continued leadership and strategic vision for 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 broken 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 ukraine's military expanded and for two years of hard and intense fighting the peopl homes to beat back a larger and supposedly more capable military. despite the enormity of the challenge, ukraine halted initial russian advances from taking kyiv aau 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 fortifymize effects of their ammunition and supplies. from the beginning, ukraine has asked for the capability and and and fight. for two years ukrainian forces have use this coalition support to repel russian attacksics. 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 t for two years we have shown the outcomes we can achieve when we

act together and provide support to ukraine. russia's plan is to wait out westernill to support ukraine. this coalition must not let that strategy work. collectively allies and partners contributed $80 billion. the 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. as president biden and secretary austen have said, the u.s. will stand with ukraine. peace and security are more than just words. it's more than just belief. peace and security require constant work and action. ukraine defense contact will continue its work for ukraine and for all. thank you and i look forward to your questions. >> our first question will come

from the washington post. >> secretary austen, it's nice to see you. first for you, how great is the risk of a major russian rtages ukraine is now facing and does that danger continue to grow as the u.s. supplemental is delayed further and do you think given in ukraine, do you think the united states has a responsibility to dip further into its own stockpile ilemental does not pass. for you, general brown, the united states says they are discussing alternati israel in raaf up. what alternative options exist for achieving israel's security gointhern gaza including destroying the remaining hamas battalions without further threatening 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 we've seen on the battlefield is a series of incremental gains by the russians. irman made a couple minutes ago, these gains have come at a significant cost in terms of personnel and equipment. nonetheless we have seen some incremental gains. as i have engaged my counterparts in the chief of defense in ukraine, they feel confident in their ability to continue to defend their sovereign territory and hold the line. of course they need 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 i continue to see broad support

in both chambers of congress for ukraine and so i'm optimistic we will see some action moving forward but again this is a thing you cannot absolutely predict. 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 forand in that meeting i can tell you you hear unity and 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 rafah it is hard to lay out the alternative. on te of things we've engaged with the israelis, we h in operating in urban environments in the middle east. we continue to talk about the lessons led have on how to execute. at the same time we talk about how do we protect civilians. ersonal experience leading to parts of the arab campaign to defeat isis are focused on how you protect civilians and minimizing collateral damage is a continuing conversation and that will be an aspect that we will to have with the israelis as we ponder future operations.

>> questioned both gentlemen. are anere pl transfer the ukraine defense content group into a nato structure? it would make things may be easier or is t 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. each of these meetings are well nd each of these meetings again, our partners and allies have expressed s over time it will shift from a focus on the current fight solely to more of a focus on building a longer-term capability for ukraine and you are already starting to see with what we arewe have countries that

have volunteered to lead these coalitions that are focused on the critical war fighting capabilities ukraine will need 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 ukraine the security assistance it needs to be successful today andidterms. >> secretary austin, in december you warned if israel did not protect civilians in gaza it risk a tactical win but strategic defeat. since that time we've seen tens of thousands of civilians in gaza killed or wounded and now they face potential famine.

as the u.s. considered withholding offensive weapons asked for and if not why do you believe the u.s. 's right to build peers and air drops but not leverage everything on weapons to open land routes and protect civilians? general brown, in light of the annocement it will end its military relationship with the united states, our u.s. forces leaving? if so, when and how and how would that impact u.s. terrorism operations? >> thank you nancy. taking us back to where this started oton oc a brutal attack against israel and killed 1200 israelis 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 thehave what they need to defend their people. we also recognize the importance of ensuring that people remain safe in gaza. the two things are not mutually exclusive. you can conduct 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. we continue to encourage the israel he leadership to do just 2mthat, to make sure they are doing everything possible to get increasing amounts of humanitarian assistance into gaza. we are doing everything we 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 maybe increase the amount of meals provided on a daily basis by some 2 million meals. that is substantial. israel has a right to defend itself, but there also a need to protect the civilians in the battle space. the exclusive. gen. brown: as you saw over the weekend there about the relationship. even since then there's been some mixed signals we receive and so if a decision is made we make plans as you might imagine we always make plans to ent contingencies so we will continue to make plans whether we stay or depart.

what is the impact on counterterrorism, that has impacted impacting the support. continue to look at nations within west africa others are working counterterrorism. with a couple chiefs of defense. as talking more realistically. we all work together. >> our final question. >> questions over the past 24 hours, the israeli army has 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 no thank you for the question. we have been clear about the need to prioritize the protection and that a military operations should proceed without a clear and implementable plan. to evacuate the 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 military plan any type of operational 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 here on that soon. >> thank you both very much. ladies and gentlemen this concludes our press briefing. anchor very much for joining us today.

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