or watch anytime at c-span.org/h istory. >>■t c-span is your unfiltered view of government, funded■>■■sy these television companies and more, including comcast. >> are you thinking community center? >> comcast is partnering with community students from low income families caget the tools they need toe ready for anything. >> comcast suprts c-span along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin and hugh browns conferenn belgium after a meeting with the ukraine contact group.

this is about 25 minutes. ol■■& good aonand gentlemen and thank you for being here today. it's my pleasure toce secretary of defense lloyd austin iii and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. the secretary will deliver opening remarks and time to take a few questns moderate those questions and call on

reporters and ask you to limit your follow-ups and give your■a- colleagues to ask questions. >> gdon everybody. thanks for joining us. we have come highly productive meeting of the■: gro. this is our 23rd meeting. ry time we gather, i am impressed by the of more than 50 countries helping to■ support ukraine's self-defense. today thect group heard directly about the battlefield d his forces are holding the line in the face of russissaultd in inflicting significant cost on the kremlin's invaders. president biden signed the

national security supplemental, renewed u.s. assistance is reaching)■c ukrnedy pace. and last week, president biden assistance security package through another stocks. th package provides ukraine with interceptors, armored vehicles, ant thy tank weapons and military systems and meunanythis stand up to aggressions. this coalition remains strong. and the contact group remains us military is for decades to come. contact grou continue to step up and to get ukraine what it needs and when it needs it. air defense remains priority.

i applaud those who have dug deep find more air defense systems and is leading to asmb a patriot air defense system. they are contributing a mini core components apart from its own stocks and called on ukraine's other friends toth th. meanwhile, sweden recently largy package for ukraine and 155 millimeter shells, and armored vehicles.providing e early warning and control aircraft which will help ukraine with and maritime and italy willd a second air defense system to ukrai

are committing to packages. more and more these commitmentsn bilateral agreements with ukraine. the united states and ukraine will own bilateral agreement today. we are lking t forge long-term security for ukraine and i continue to be with the work of the capability coalitions. towe from the drone capable coalition. and me thank for their leadership of the drone coalition. this capability coalition is helping to ean ukraine asymmetric capabilities and that is especially important as putin relies on iranian u.a.v.'s to target tartsst one of the

are doing outstanding work. we are a force, one aggression in the long haul. we remain determined to suprt while ensuring our own eadiness and robust industrial base. so we discussing ways to expand munits and deepen our coordination. now i just want to be clear abouthy i have convened this group, this contact group 23 tis now. putin thinks that he gets to determine which countries are real and which countri cd off t. that's incredi■qbly and incredibly dangerous. so let'sar. putin started this war by invading2[■.tuq? his peaceful n.

aermant neighbor of the u.n. security council is trying to deny democracy for more than 43 and the kremlin's war of horrified countries around the world. states and to the entireif ukra] boot, europe will fall under putin's shadow. ifutin tramples ukraine, he would be emboldene commit more acts of aggression and the world would enter a far more dangerous stage. we understand the stakes and the will set a trajectory for global security for decades to come and and all of our security.

so we will continue to stand up aggression and atrocities and will continue to fi get ukraine the air defenses its skies and move heaven and earth to in freedom. >> thank you, mr. secretary. gooder last week on june 6, i ws on the beaches of norman■/&dy to commemorate the 80th anniversary of thehere along side president biden and secretary auin and leaders, we honored some of the last living in esrld war ii, our gre june, 194, statement describ men. he said, they fight not for the lot, they fight to

end conquest and fight and let f cooperation. showed aggression when nations come togetr foa just cause. now we find ourselves in another crux of history. this is a force of this ukraine forc■q$ to come together, united for the cause f our nations and for the cause of the once again, i thank secretary austin for your leadership in guiding this national coalition■ d defense minister who joined us today and for his continued leadership for ukraine's military forces. and to all t represented here today, i want to thank them. their are

supporting ukraine's efforts to. this tests the very foundation of security on w world relies. unpro is recze aggression needs the security of all nations. as i have said, might does not make right but might does shape outcomes. this contact group's c support of ukraine we are mighting the world of what iseyr isolation and our unity grows stronger. russia continues their attempts to advance across multiple battle frot assault on kharkiv. they trying abilities and reposition has countered russia and disrupted

their attack. ukraine continueso hold strong. and with this group's contributi is exacting heavy costs on the russian aggressors and ongoing support is so critical. sustaining ukraine's itself is d long-term effort. is in providing ukraine with the necessary systems andpabilities has been remarkable. to be effective fightin continuo capabilities and supplies and our support with the ukrainian will to fightas proven time and time again that ukraine wils iron is not enough, which is why web dedicated to these efforts. last week as secretary austin we announced 59th drawdown package

for ukraine. this was part of an incredible contribution recently made by some 50 nations of this coalition. and example of how it remains ue with the tools they need counter ongoing russian. support of t nations gathered here today is greatest assets. these nations are committed to challenges ahead.ddress the■u we are stronger when we work together. rooted in a shared history of security and fostered premises of democracy, sovereignty and■t ew years, these peace among nations that uphold them. thisrm against any challenge.monstratir

resides in cooperative effort b■ like-mindedffor this could spread conflict through the rest of the world tt president roosevelt said brave men and women must fight in conquest to liberate and let justice arise. allied came together 80 years ago and executed knowing that freedom a soverei4gnty pon their success. today, peace and success only achieved from individual nations. it is key through collective efforts and■! and responsibilities and supporting uaine, defending democracy and sovereignty. lookr questions. >> firstuest

potico■■- you. secretary president zelenskyy has asked for more aia patriot. will the u.s. answer and deliver an ukraine. general brown, ukraine hass the 30 pilots to f-16's but enough. is that true? expanding that training pipeline and will ukraine will have enough pilots and training bymes >> regarding patriots, air defense has been at the top of my agenda for a long time. and you heard

me emphasize the importance providing additional defenses and a patriotism already but n only that, me and j■ake sullivan and tony blinken have encouraged others to provide additional capabilities and not just patriots, it's number of capabilities that ukraine needso complement the platforms. i don't have any announcements on patriot batteries today, but what i can tell you, i continue this in constant contact with my counterpart and do everything we can to make sure they have need and get it s quickly as w can.

>> we have air force, the eight capability and working with the ukrainians to get the fourthcapability up and running. united states is co-leading onlg for but other pilots are supporting it as both in the united states and some of the partne their coalition. and we will continue to work with them. not only theand key part of that digitially to make sure ukrainians have nee f-16's summer. >> next question.

[indiscernible] >> question to my colleague, ths new extra potys and no announcement today. holder of this patri■ot■q the re holding ? operational, system and move it from one to the other and just for us secondly for you, general, what is assessment in kharkiv. do they have enough to possibly regain initiatives and see other critical -- along the front now? >> a defense is a top priority and working this on a daily basis and i have seen some of

the press reporting. what i will tell you is that there will be no change incover. i know that that was a component of a previous story but there is no change in our patriot coverage. we are going to do everything we can to get ukraine what it needs. we are going to encourage with t ukraine what it needs as quickly as we n. this is not something uk guessing at. >> in reference to yo regarding kharkiv. the situation or stabilized than what it was over the past several weeks. and what they have been focused4 better stability.ines to crea■t5

one of the challenges in movingt and focuses in other areas and spreads their defenses. holding their defensive lines and will continue that. >> next question to voice of eric >> i would like a question to clarify■ policy. if attacks that aren't in krk can ukraine strike that military tart? why ?

i would like to expand colleagud and more broadly, how would you describe the fight between russia and ukraine. you mentioned ukraine continues to hold strong, but is this a stale requested permissin to cone kharkiv area using u.s. weapons.■e and president biden granted them and so, oury in using long range strike capabilities to conduct strikes that but the abo close fight in the kharkiv region■7 ios expectations is they will put that to good use. >> i would share with you, if

you go back over the course of this regained 50% of its territory first taken by e russians and at the same time, support of this contact group to help the capability to defend defensive line and hold the defensive lines but what about is the amount of attrition that they put against the russians although they are outnumbered. the russians have lost personnel a lost platforms is pretty traumatic from a numberse held those lines and continue t. >> time for one moreion. final question here.■

>> mr. spec -- spec, some of the restrictions were lifted about two weeks ago, what kind has the battlefield. what kind of progress or does it >> i can't speak for allies, what weapons have been t that has had but what i can speak to is what i'm looking at in the the attempt for them to conduct wasm conduct staging areas just on the other side of the those staging areas. t0hahe ability to engageus the border now and i'll leave it to

the talk about the specifffects t but what i see is a slowing of the advance and a stabilizing of the particular piece of the front. now i think see incremental gains and puts and , a couple of weeks ago, there was a significant break-through on the pathink we'll see that going forward. i doth large exploittation force to take advantage of a break-through as the chairman has described. a lot to fortify their defensive positionsnd[' making good use of the weapons and munitions thatde of that will continue to flow in.

son they'll get stronger as progresses but they aredoing things to mobilize more people and train more people. of those things will have a pretty substantial effect on the battlefield but will takelay ou. we have the means to continue td will flow in in a very meaningful way. >> that concludes our press briefing. thank you very much for attending. thank you, gentlemen. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024]erfod >> c-span washington journal, our live form involving you,

latest issues in government, politics, and public policy. om washington dc and across the country. coming up to morning, darrell kimball discusses the state o u.s. in recent comments by national security council arms-control u.s. may be forced to expand its arsenal with aina, russia, and north ko. then i talk about the supreme court's unanimous decision to preserve access to the abortion medication mifepristone. then the supreme court's decision reject to the fda's approval of the abortion medication to -- on reproductiveights. joining the conversation live at seven, eastern friday morning on c-span, c-span now, our free mobile app, or online at c-span.org on friday,

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