surviving to the refugees, striving to co exist with nature. okay, so what's going on there? we have simulating what happens when an elephant commerce life off to conflict on al jazeera. now the answer was an arabic. my name is talent. i was abducted by the cia in 2004, a german citizen was kidnapped and tortured by the cia. he came up with handcuffs, lead me into interpretation. a powerful documentary tells her story of how the geo politics of the post 911 world ruined the life of an innocent man. the o mastery case on al jazeera ah, germany facing mounting pressure is the sand, its leopard tanks to ukraine at a meeting of 50 countries at ramstein airbase.

ah, the watering l 0 lie from headquarters and del himes, adding, obligate also a heads. and al jazeera joins investigation, finds asylum seekers were forced to return from italy to greece and inhumane conditions. sierra leone reserves. 30 percent of all jobs for women, including the parliament and management roles and police and brazil conduct rates to find those responsible for the riots on the capital earlier this month. ah, hello germany is facing mounting pressure to allow the export. if it's leper to battle tanks to ukraine, president vladimir zalinski says they could turn the tide of the war against russia . and that pressure came as defense, ministers from 50 countries. it at the ramstein air base to coordinate military

support for keyed ahead of the meeting, finland announced a new donation of more than $430000000.00 worth of equipment on the us promised armored vehicles. an air defense worth up to 2 and a half $1000000000.00. but the head of nato has warned that ukraine needs help, maintaining the weapons it already has been thanks. are important to us all, all the older systems. and in addition to the new platforms, we need also to remember that we need to not only or focus on a new platforms, but also to ensure that all the proper forms which are all did there. i can functions asked, they should mean that we need a munition. we need a spare parts. we need maintenance and we did training were thank you live to ramstein airbase in germany. that's where the u. s. secretary of defense, lloyd austin, is holding a press conference right now. let's listen in rate. those questions and calling journalists and would actually limit follow what do i take schedule. thank you for

your assistance with that and over the secretary austin. well, good afternoon everyone, and thank you all for joining us today at ramstein, we've just concluded the 8th ukraine defense contact group meeting. and it was great to start the new year by deepening our coordination as we worked together for ukraine's self defense. as president biden is said, this is a decisive decade for the world. and this is a decisive moment for ukraine struggle to defend itself. so this contact group will not slow down. we're going to continue to dig deep. and based upon my progress that we've made today, i'm confident that ukraine's partners from around the globe are determined to meet this moment. united states remains committed to leading in this coordinated

effort. and this morning i was pleased to announce another mate around of us security assistance designed to meet ukraine's urgent battlefield requirements. and this $2500000000.00 package is one of our largest, yet it helps ukraine meet its air defense needs with additional ne, sam's munitions, and 8 avenger air defense systems. in this package also helps tackle ukraine's urgent need for armor and combat vehicles. it includes $59.00 additional bradley infantry fighting vehicles and 90 striker armored personnel. carriers $53.00 m wraps and $350.00 up armored humvees and it will provide thousands ra,

a thousands more rounds of artillery. now we were honored to hear this morning from president zalinski of ukraine, and let me also think several other braves ukrainian leaders for joining us today. and that includes my good friend, mister alexi resnick, off the minister of defense. and lieutenant general moore shook the deputy chief of defense. their presentations gave us a 1st hand account of what ukraine's military and citizens are facing. the day's meeting focused on ukraine's needs for air defense and armor. we also pushed hard on how to synchronize those donations. and turn them into fully operational capabilities and that means every step from donation to training to maintenance and then to sustain it.

we also focus hard on how our collectors and an individual training efforts would be prosecuted. so as you heard, president biden recently announced the latest u. s. training initiative and bills on a u. s. programs to train ukranian troops dating back to 2014 other countries are stepping up what their own initiatives and many are joining the european union's military assistance mission. and meanwhile, were also continuing to strengthen our defense industrial vases for the work of the national elements directors under the auspices of this contact group. and all of these efforts, underscore how much we've deepen our co operation since the contact group began

last april. i work shows how much nations of good will can achieve when we worked together. and the shows are long term commitment to supporting ukraine against russia's unprovoked aggression. now as we saw again just days ago in the pro, russia continues its assault on ukraine. civilian ants and critical infrastructure in russia continues to bombard ukraine cities with cruise missiles and drones. but the ukrainian people stand defiant and strong and ukrainian troops are bravely defending their country and their fellow citizens as russia, as cruelty deepens, the resolve of this contact group grows. and that's clear from the announcements

that we've heard today. i'll start with their defense. several countries have come forward with key donations that will help protect ukraine skies and cities and citizens in france, germany and a u. k. have all donated air defense systems to ukraine. and that includes a paid a patriot battery from germany. and that's especially important coming alongside our own contribution of a patriot system in the netherlands is also donating a patriot missiles and launchers and training. meanwhile, canada has procured a ne sam system and associated munitions for ukraine. and so these air defense systems will help save countless innocent lives were also pushing hard to meet ukraine's requirements for tanks and other armored vehicles. the u. k. has an else a significant donation of challenger to tanks for ukraine. this is the 1st

introduction of western main battle tanks into ukraine. my also command our british allies for, for making this decision. and sweden announced it's donating the cd, 90 infantry fighting vehicles and an additional donation soon of archer howitzers. we've also heard inspiring and important new donation announcements from several other countries and, and that includes denmark which will donate my teen howitzers and lot via is donating more stingers and helicopters and other equipment. and estonia is providing ukraine with a significant new package of much needed 155 millimeter howitzers, and munitions. now all of today's announcements are our direct results of our work at the contact group. and these important new commitments demonstrate the ongoing resolve of our allies and partners to help ukraine defend

itself. because this isn't just about ukraine's security. it's also about european security. and it's about global security. it's about the kind of war own that we want to live in and it's about the world that we want our children and grandchildren to inherit. the members of this contact group are standing up for world war we're really matter. and we're right matter. and we're sovereignty is respected and where people can choose our own path, free from tyranny and aggression. i'm confident that this group will remain united and will continue to bill momentum. will support ukraine against russian aggression for the long haul. and will continue to work toward

a free and security right ukraine in a stable and decent world. and with that, let me turn it over to the chairman's for his comments that everyone and thank you . secondly, i severe leadership in the 8th mccraney in contact group and supportive ukrainian freedom. and thanks as well, all the ministers in charge the cheese, the defense of a hair who represented 54 different countries today. a special thank you. also tooth ukrainian minister, defense risk off, and deputy chief of defense, sternum lasik. i had recently had an opportunity me with a generals loosening in poland. and general music was here representing him. but they all represent the exceptional bravery of the training army. and most importantly, the ukrainian people this week after meetings i was losing an opportunity to visit some of the training and the mac infantry that we are doing a craft beer here in

a train here in germany. also an opportunity, some coordination meetings and these botton and then attended the nato chads. the military committee meeting were all members of all the charge of nato and up to, to meet with one of the primary topics being support a to train. and then of course, this week ending at today, this week with the, with the contact group. i think that over my 43 years in uniform, this is the most unified. i've ever seen nato and i've dipped in and out of nato over many, many years. lores evolved over the last 11 months, but the mission of this group is contact group under general, austin's leadership and a secretary us leadership has remain the same. we are effectively committed to support ukraine with capabilities to defend itself against the illegal and unprovoked russian aggression. in the words of president biden, secretary austin, and many other national leaders as much as it takes for as long as it takes in

order to keep ukraine free, independent and sovereign. these contact group meetings play an important role as we support ukraine in the defense of its territory. and they are clare unambiguous demonstration of the unity and resolve the allied nations. yesterday, a secretary austin just mentioned, president biden released her 30th security assistance package, signifying our continued commitment to ukraine. his package combined with our previous one enclosed combined. ours maneuver capabilities was supporting artillery equivalent to at least 2 combined ars maneuver brigades, or 6 mach infantry battalions, 10 motorized infantry battalions and 4 artillery battalions, along with a lot of other equipment. this package, as us package along with the allied dentist donations, are indicated today, signify our collective resolve in our commitment to ukraine to protect their

population from the indiscriminate russian attacks and to provide the armor necessary to go on the offensive deliberate russian occupied ukraine. additionally, this week in germany, we began to tie in and brigade collective training that i had an opportunity to visit at the combined house maneuver training center here in graphing beer and in support of ukraine. an army that training, in addition to equipment will significantly increase ukrainians. capability to defend itself for the russian attacks and to go on the tactical, an operational offensive to liberate the occupied areas. with the training of the united states and our partners are doing. ukrainians will advance their command and control their tactics, techniques, and procedures. their ability to integrate fires with maneuver and they will more effectively synchronize all of the combined arms in order to execute maneuver based

operations. the support that we discussed say in his contact group meeting, the training that we discussed today. and the way ahead is really an extension of what's been going on since 2014 and did a signifies of a real and tangible difference in the ukraine's efforts to defend itself. international aggression where large countries use military force to attack small countries and change recognized borders cannot be allowed to stand. eventually, president bowden, russia will realize the full extent of their strategic miscalculation. but until bowden and this war, his war of choice, the nations of this contact group will continue to support the defense of ukraine in order to uphold the rules based international order. thank you, in a welcome your questions. thank you, mr. secretary, chairman, our 1st question will go to tish on and becca from

a r d. hello. mr. secretary of defense. my question is many of us thought that today we would have a breakthrough in the discussion about heavy metal tanks. you didn't mention that at all. he didn't talk about to dupont to upgrade his thanks. so did you talk about that today? i think you heard, you may have heard the german minister defense say earlier that they've not made a decision on the provision of a lever tanks. and what we're really focused on is making sure that ukraine has a capability that it needs to be successful right now. so we have a window of opportunity here, you know, between now and the spring when i, you know, when, whenever they commence their operation, they're kind of offensive. and that's not

a long time. and we have to pull together the right capabilities. and you heard the chairman walk through some of the substantial combat power that we and some of our allies have a offer offer to provide. there are tanks in and in those offerings, poland, for example, it continues to offer tanks and will provide tanks and other countries will offer some take time capability as well. i don't have any announcements to make on him. once you heard the, the german ministry of defense say that they've not made a decision on lepers. next question will go to eaters, ali reuters mrs. secretary over the past week. a number of european countries have publicly pleated with germany to allow the transfer of their tanks. you may with your german counterpart yesterday, and like you said today, they still have not made a decision. are you disappointed in the german position? and how can germany still be seen as a reliable ally, given what is wide,

he perceived as them dragging their feet on something so simple. and for the chairman? is there any prohibition on the use of american weapons by the ukrainians in crimea currently? and you've talked about how this war, like many others has to and through a negotiated settlement is now the time for the russians and ukrainians to come to the table to talk about that. oh frank's liter. so 1st let me say that her this isn't really about one single platform. and so our, our goal and i think we've been fairly successful at doing those and bring and go over bully is to, is to provide the capability that ukraine needs to be successful in the near term. and so you heard a talk about the 2 battalions of bradley for t fighting vehicles, very capable platform ah,

3 battalions arbor gauge worth of strikers. as you add that up, that's just 2 brigades of combat power that the u. s. is providing along with enablers. and other things, so you'll get sweet and providing a battalion of c, b 90. as an armored personnel carrier, the germans are providing martyrs. the, the polls are providing a battalions worth of a mechanized capability. you heard the chairman highlight for battalions of, of artillery, mechanized artillery that's being provided. so this is a, this is a very, very capable package. and they, you know, if, if, if employed properly it will enable them to be successful. now we're going to shoot to ensure that we're doing everything necessary to ensure that they have the ability to employ it properly. and you heard us talk about training additional training that we're going to do. this is something that we haven't been able to do

in the past. so as we speak, you know, troops are being linked up with bradley infantry fighting vehicles. and they'll train for weeks not only on just how to operate the vehicles, but also on how to properly set conditions for maneuver and then maneuver. and then you know how to exploit the opportunities, how to breach obstacles. and so i think this will be a really, really capable package that we put together. and i really do believe that it will enable the ukrainians to be successful going forward. so this is not dependent upon a single platform. and this is, this is a combined arms effort that we brought together that i, i truly believe is gonna provide them best opportunity for success. and is the on your 1st question. typically, we're not going to discuss, i don't discuss either prohibitions or permissions authorities on the use of

weapons, etc. that as that goes towards rules of engagement, we don't typically discuss those in public form. on the 2nd question, president biden zalinski, and most of the leaders of europe have said that this war is likely to end in the negotiation and, and from a military standpoint, this a very, very difficult fight this fight stretchers. it all away from right now is the frontline goes from all the way from card if you've done to get us on and the significant fighting ongoing in it's more or less a static front line, right? this minute, with the exception of bach, moon solid, are with a significant offense of action going on really from both sides. the distance that for the united states, that's about from a i guess, washington dc to atlanta. so that is a significant amount of territory. and in that territory are still remaining, a lot of russian forces in russia occupied ukraine. so from a military standpoint, i still maintain that for this year it would be very,

very difficult to militarily eject the russian forces from all every inch of ukrainian act by or russian act. but ukraine, that doesn't mean it can't happen, doesn't mean it won't happen, but it be very, very difficult. i think what can happen as a is a continued defense stabilize in the front. i think it's possible to, to clearly do that. and i think it depending on the delivery and training of all of this equipment, i do think it's very, very possible to, for the trainings to run a significant tactical, or, or even operational level offensive operation to liberate as much ukrainian territory as possible. and then we'll, then we'll see where it goes. but i do think at the end of the day this for like many wars in the past will end up some sort of negotiating table. and that will be determined in terms of timing. but the leaders of both countries, both, both the russia and ukraine, present boone could end this war today. it's, he started it, it's his war of choice. and he could under today because it's turning into an absolute catastrophe for russia,

a massive amounts of casualties. lots of other damages to the, to the russian military, etc. so he should and could in this war right now, right today. thank you. our next question will go to answer stan z. thank you very much, mrs. secretary is germany doing enough in order to show it real leadership in europe . thank you. yes. but we can all do more and, you know, united states and every other member of the u. d. c. can, can do more. now, germany has contributed a lot to this, that, to this campaign. you know, from the very beginning we saw them cycle in air defense capability, the gift cards, the patriots most recently, iris t. r. they stepped up and offered to provide martyrs, they will provide those martyrs and conduct the training on those platforms. and we are training ukrainian soldiers on maneuver and other things and,

and specialty things here in germany as well. so germany is opened, it continues to open its doors and make the training areas and facilities available for us to continue to do the work that we need to do. and germany is also training troops and training of a tight and brigade headquarters. so they have a big or in the water like the rest of the contact group does. and they're working hand in hand with, with the rest of our colleagues here. so i think he just asked me earlier if it, if, if germany was a leader i was at the right questionnaire. he doesn't oh yeah. yeah. they are reliable. i, they've been that way for, for a very, very long time. and i, i truly believe that they'll continue to be

a reliable ally going forward. so not to mention, they have germany is host 239000 of my troops and their families, and also 10000 civilians here. and so we've had a great relationship, but throughout all the years and i will continue to have a great relationship and germany will continue to exercise leadership going for. thank you. next question. so no deal on the leper to tanks for ukraine from germany, but the u. s is committed to leading this coordinated effort to defend ukraine dots, according to the u. s. different secretary lloyd austin. you see on your screen right there. he was holding a news conference on ukraine along with side his us joint chiefs of staff, mark, milly, and there at the ross stein air ranch sign air based in germany, where the u. s. is long with 50. other countries have been meeting to coordinate military support for keys. let's bring in stuff. awesome. she's joining us from the

ramstein air base in germany. so step what stood out for you from this press conference. well, it seemed that the secretary austin was really trying to hide his disappointment, but there must have been some feelings of disappointment, not only at his side, but also at utter nato partners about the fact that germany has the late this decision. secretary also actually specifically flew to berlin, alas, yesterday to speak with the new a defense minister of germany. and he was definitely hoping, hoping of some more progress today. but as the german minister announced earlier today, there will not be a decision today at maybe he said it could be tomorrow, it could be in a week or 2 weeks, but it's such a delicate matter with so many pros and cons. he said that this needs to be carefully wait,

and it's not clear where the decision is now hanging on. but it was also said earlier this week that in a conversation on the phone between chancellor olive shoals and joe biden, there was some mention about a sort of going to gather, so a shows apparently asked biden, also to sent thanks american tanks. abraham thanks, but the, the u. s. has already announced that that's not going to happen. these tanks, they say is much more complicated. the slap are 2 tanks are much more suitable for ukraine. and shows has always been a concern that this would escalate the conflict that nato could be a directly be in confrontation with russia. he has also internal pressure from germans, from people in his own party. not to go that far. it seems to be quite a red line for this chancellor. and so now these discussions are still ongoing. the polish defense minister was also been very critical about germany was now kind of

optimistic. when he came out of the meeting, he said he still is positive. that there will be a decision on this lap or to tags, ukraine, but just not simply, not now. he said there was a separate meeting of 15 countries on the sidelines of this god of this meeting to day. and that's a sign that is a coalition being built to have this support for the saddening of this leopard at tags to ukraine. right. and whether or what other announcements were made staff during this press conference because leading up to this meeting at the ramstein air base, the u. s. announced that it will be sending over or promising rather up to 2 and a half $1000000000.00 in the armored vehicles and air defense. and we also heard that poll that finland, excuse me, announced a new donation of $430000000.00. so what morrow has been pledged to ukraine? yeah, what stood our sir air defense systems. that's also something that the president

polanski this morning when he was addressing the meeting on the, on a screen really was asking for a so a lot of countries, including also germany and in that lens and other countries have now promised to sent the patriot air defense systems, so that's something that's really essential all so at this time of the conflict in ukraine and it was a long list as you heard an earlier in this press conference off weapons of ammunition or of all kinds, sofa and also with a long long list of countries willing to cooperate and to build this coalition further. so that's that this must be something that's really warmly welcomed in ukraine at the moment. but there is this appointment, of course, especially on the ukrainian side, that there's still no decision on this or what they say crucial battle tags. okay, let's find out how deep that disappointment is and bring in natasha butler. she's joining us from keith. thank you. step for the time being. so natasha. no

announcement on the on the tanks. ukraine and president zelinski must be disappointed. what was all heard from her presence lensky? a yet the look. there was lots of good news coming out of this meeting. the sense that you have more than 50 countries and organizations that are pledging their ongoing commitment ongoing support to, to ukraine. and you also have a large number of countries outlining the sort of a weapon to they will be sending. we local u. k, for example, is sending tanks, but also houses, ammunition armored vehicles, helicopters, or all sorts of weapons being sent from a number of countries promised and pledged. and that is obviously good news and will be welcomed by keith. disappointing though. yes. that germany has not made a decision on whether to send it's leopard. thanks a whether c a green light and allow all the countries european countries have closed tanks.