we should learn more from the pentagon this hour. donald trump makes his 2024 run official, two years after losing the white house to joe biden. notably missing from his mar-a-lago rollout, leading republicans, including senators, the party chair, even daughter ivanka who says she loves her father but will stay out of politics and focus on her family. right now, republicans remain one seat away from gaining control of the house. third time is a charm. nasa's artemis lighting up the florida sky overnight on a test flight that paved the way for returning to the moon 50 years after the final apollo mission. good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. nato is reporting that the russian-made missile that landed in poland only miles from ukraine's border killing two people did not come from russia but from a ukrainian missile

defense system. calming fears the blast could lead to a wider conflict between russia and ukraine. >> our preliminary analysis suggests that the incident was likely caused by a ukrainian air defense missile fired to defend ukrainian territory against russian cruise missile attacks. >> president biden leading an emergency meeting of g7 and nato leaders overnight before leading the g20 in bali. >> there is preliminary information that contests that. i don't want to say that until we completely investigate.

it's unlikely in the minds of the trajectory that it was fired from russia. but we will see. >> joining me now, kristin welker, co-host of "weekend today" and richard engel in kherson, ukraine. richard, to you. the nato chief saying, this is not ukraine's fault, that russia bears the ultimate responsibility. russia bombarded ukraine with 90 missiles yesterday. at the same time, they were speaking for vladimir putin. they said, poland overreacted. >> reporter: i have lost you on the connection. if you can hear me, the ukrainian reaction has been -- we are back. so this is something of an embarrassment for ukraine. president zelenskyy quickly came out and blamed russia, even before all of the facts were in.

the reason we are seeing nato saying it's not ukraine's fault is that ukraine was only firing its air defense systems in response to a massive campaign of air attacks by russia. in fact, what we saw yesterday was one of the biggest air campaigns by russia since the beginning of the war. most people here believe that this was a direct response to the loss of kherson. this city was recently recaptured by ukrainian forces. we have all been seeing for the last several days the images of people here in kherson celebrating in the streets. the soldiers coming out like rock stars, signing autographs, signing flags, hugging babies. all of these images have been broadcast back, at least via the internet, to russia. this has been something of a humiliation personally for vladimir putin. so we saw this massive response overnight, which triggered the ukrainians to fire their air

defenses and apparently one of those air defense systems misfired and landed in poland killing these two people. that's why the secretary-general of nato said, it's not exactly ukraine's fault. what ukraine -- what president zelenskyy may have done is gotten a little ahead of his skis, blaming the russians before all the facts were in and often, as you know, in wartimes, the first reports aren't always the most accurate. what we are seeing generally is sort of a split strategy here. we are seeing the russians pursuing one course of action in this war, which is a resumption of the long-range attacks targeting ukraine's infrastructure. apparently with the goal of bringing this country to its knees. this city where i am right now is still completely blacked out. there's no water, no heat. much of the country was blacked out overnight with the idea of making the government unpopular and trying to convince ukrainians that they have had

enough and they need to rush to the negotiating table and give russia a piece of ukraine so the war can end. but here, even in this blacked out city, the mood is victorious. across the country, in general, people feel very triumphant. they feel that they are winning. this recapturing of kherson was the third major victory for ukraine since the start of the war. first turning back russian forces outside of kyiv. then taking over the entire kharkiv region. now the recapture of kherson. while russia is trying to destroy the infrastructure, force negotiations. the mood here is they have to capitalize and keep moving forward and keep seizing more territory. here they want to grab as much land as possible. the russians are trying to eliminate this country's

infrastructure. two different tactics. >> invaluable context from you, richard engel. thank you very much. to kristin welker here, president biden was so measured in his comments, the u.s. response so careful. >> i thought it was so notable, andrea, that president biden was the first world leader to come out and say, it's unlikely this missile was fired from russia. you are absolutely right, very careful in his language, very careful in his tone. i do think -- he is traveling back from bali as we speak. he is going to land later on this evening and we will probably learn more. i think once he returns back, you will hear him echo what we are hearing from the u.n., which is ultimately, russia bears responsibility for starting this war and for these latest provocations.

part of the president's goal, while he was in bali, was to unify g20 leaders. he held an emergency meeting with g7 leaders. his goal continues to be the same, to keep these allies unified in their support of ukraine and against russia and to keep also the aid coming. that was one of the big topics of conversation at the g20 meeting. the president asking congress for more money, about $37 billion more money to help ukraine. >> they want do this in the lame duck before the house most likely turns over to republicans, and there are certainly parts of the house caucus that don't want to go this big and that are more isolationist. >> there's no doubt about that. we're going to be keeping a close eye on this and listen to the language by leader mccarthy who has said they do not want to write a blank check to ukraine. i actually asked president biden about that at his last news conference. he said, look, we have not

written a blank check to ukraine. we are giving ukraine what it needs. at the same time, you might see more intense fights over this funding for ukraine, which so far, as you know, has really been approved quite quickly. a number of different amounts. zelenskyy says he needs more aid and more weapons. that could be a big sticking point with the new congress. >> to your point of how cautious and careful the u.s. response was yesterday, especially with the president having to say, our capability to track everything that is coming from russia or from ukraine is unparalleled, u.s. and the brits, i would say. i was checking with them yesterday as well. they were careful about this, may not have come from russia and all of this, speaking quietly. they know everything that's moving around in the air. >> absolutely. what you saw yesterday really was this acknowledgement -- you

reported this early on. something had happened in that region. two people were killed. so this urgency to try to get to the bottom of what exactly happened, but also the caution so important, because this is such a volatile situation, because an attack against poland, a nato ally, article 5, an attack against one is an attack against all. >> that's what the president has been trying to prevent. >> that was the concern. that's why that caution was so necessary from the perspective of the president. >> not in a war, but we would have to respond. >> exactly. >> it could mean arming and clear other responses. it does mean that we would view it as an attack against nato. >> it would be a major escalation if that had come from russia. >> kristin welker, great to see you. >> so great to see you. joining us now, delaware democratic senator chris coons who serves on the foreign relations committee and has spend time in kyiv and knows

very well what's going on there. senator, this, of course, has been the fear of nato countries and the president since the war started, that they had to make sure this did not involve nato. at this point, we can see how likely it is even for an accident to occur one way or the other, especially with this carpet bombing and with ukraine using these old soviet-era missile defenses. >> that's right. as you said, just in the most recent conversation you were having there, president biden has once again shown his steady hand, his measured leadership, his response to this potential crisis. he made sure we did the research, the investigation to understand what had happened to make it clear that we strongly support our nato ally poland, who has been so critical to both welcoming millions of ukrainian refugees and providing the base, the logistical support for

flowing military support and assistance into the ukrainian armed forces. we will strongly defend poland. but we will avoid a needless provocation. in this instance -- i suspect the upcoming press conference will confirm these details -- measuring our response was the right path. we need to avoid an accidental or unintentional conflict here. russia's brutal and ongoing and unjustified invasion of ukraine continues to be incredibly dangerous. there have been more than 100,000 casualties by general milley's estimate on both sides. tens of thousands of ukrainian civilians who have been injure injured or killed. the united states and our allies are critical to the ukrainians. i am so hopeful that in the next few weeks here in this lame duck session, congress will again support president biden's initiative and authorize an

appropriation of additional funding for ukraine's fight. >> the kremlin press secretary praised the u.s. for not jumping to conclusions, but called the reaction to this blast another hysterical reaction from poland. what is your take about the way the nato border frontline countries are reacting to losing civilians, two people dead, and a blast of undetermind origin? >> russian is harming hundreds of thousands of people. they have caused a global crisis in terms of food and fertilizer prices. they have caused a flood of millions of refugees to a few dozen countries out of ukraine.

frankly, while our response, particularly president biden's response has been measured, you can hardly blame the poles for being very anxious about russian missiles raining down on western most ukraine and the real threat that they pose. in the end, if it turns out that what happened here was a ukrainian air defense missile intercepted a russian missile and it was a portion, a piece of the ukrainian missile that fell into polish territory, we can't lose sight of the fact that it's russian aggression that is causing this whole problem, this challenge, that is directly or indirectly the cause of two polish citizens being killed. >> president zelenskyy was just on tv there saying that they want access to the site, because they want to see for themselves that this was actually a ukrainian weapon, missile defense system. the cia director went to kyiv

and was meeting with saturday zelenskyy tuesday this week. before that, in turkey, with the russians, just the day before. is this about the nuclear warnings again russia or is it some back door diplomacy? might there be some room for diplomacy here? >> look, my hope is that there is some room for diplomacy. what's going to create the room for diplomacy is both ukraine's continued success on the battlefield and the west's continued strong support for ukraine. eventually, every war comes down to a negotiated diplomatic resolution, when one side or the other realizes they cannot do better on the battlefield. right now, ukraine is making progress. russia is not. i would hope that as the winter begins to settle in, that vladimir putin would recognize that withdrawing from russia, ending his unjustified war of

aggression against ukraine is his best path forward. at the g20 -- actually the g19 that's just concluding now in bali, it was clear that vladimir putin is losing the world's support for his war to the extent he ever had it and that president biden is continuing to lead strongly on the world stage. the world leadership, most important economies and nations in the world are beginning to turn against vladimir putin and his aggression in ukraine. that's a direction we should encourage. >> i assume we all caught the g19 reference to the fact that vladimir putin did not want to face the music and show up after the withdrawal from kherson and the other setbacks he has experienced. let me quickly ask you about something coming up in a test vote. are you going to get enough republicans to codify, maybe by tomorrow, sex-sex marriage? >> i'm very hopeful that we have got ten republicans willing to

vote for us to move forward on this bill. i checked in with a number of colleagues and friends about this. this bill, should we be able to get it to the president's desk, has important religious liberty protections that have been embraced by a very broad range of folks concerned about this issue. from the human rights campaign, to the aclu and glad to the latter day saints, a whole constellation of the theologically conservative religious groups who have said they would be comfortable with our moving this bill forward. there's folks who have done great work on this. in particular, baldwin and sinema in my caucus, senator portman and others in the oak -- other caucus. we should provide legal protections that respect the most important traditions of religious liberty in our country. there's a lot of folks watching this vote. i will be working it actively in support of the colleagues i

mentioned. i'm hopeful we will get there by tomorrow. >> thank you for things on all subjects. senator chris coons, appreciate it. >> good to see you. joining us is leon pennetta. great to see you. what is your reaction to what happened in poland yesterday? >> to some extent, it's a surprise it hasn't happened before, with a large number of missiles that are being fired by russia into ukraine. as you mentioned, almost 90 to 100 missiles were fired yesterday. ukraine is obviously trying to implement protection against those missiles as they fly in in this random terror that russia is involved in. i'm not surprised that something like this has taken place. i'm glad that it was handled

with responsibility in a sense that it had to be investigated, it had to be determined exactly what occurred here. by in the end, from my point of view, it still remains the responsibility of russia because of their random missile attacks on ukraine that are producing this kind of result. >> the rt editor and chief, russian media, saying in a tweet, if this is not a deliberate provocation, then there's only one good news, the nato country is so -- i'm cleaning this up here, badly protected that it can be accidentally thrashed by anyone with anything and all of nato will not even know who thrashed it. with what and why. what's your reaction to that? the hours of confusion -- the u.s. clearly knew from all my reporting, they knew something happened but not what it was. there was a lot of reaction and

confusion among the nato frontline. >> it's when you are dealing with article 5, with the potential that russians could at some point by mistake or accident strike one of the nato countries, i understand their nervousness, i understand their concern. i hope that what comes out of these events is that the united states and our allies recognize the importance of developing a very strong air defense shield, not only in ukraine, but also in the adjoining nato countries. i think we have to act to try to protect these nato countries from the possibility that an accident like that could occur again in order to give them some sense that they are being protected as well.

>> can ukraine withstand this kind of barrage, 90 hits just yesterday? how long can ukraine withstand this given the state of their missile defenses? >> the bottom line here, andrea, is that russia is failing. they are losing this war. their forces are depleted. putin is in a corner. the result is that they are basically striking out with what i consider to be random terror attacks. there's very little military value in what they're doing. what they are trying to go is to undermine the will of the ukrainians, undermine the will of the united states and our allies so that somehow they can break that will and try to reverse what's happening to them. i think the most important thing right now is for ukraine, the united states, for our allies to remain very strong in support of

ukraine and their efforts here. they have the advantage. they've got to continue to be supported. i think chris coons is absolutely correct that right now the congress has to pass the additional aid to ukraine. that is absolutely essential to sending a message to putin and the world that the united states and our allies are unified behind ukraine in this effort. >> i noticed yesterday that the state department was notifying congress of the intent to get patriot missile batteries to switzerland, famously neutral switzerland. i was not aware that we are helping the swiss defend themselves. is that how hair trigger this is for western europe? >> well, we provided patriot missiles to an awful lot of our allies. i assume that switzerland, if

they are interested in these weapons, well, i would not be surprised if ukraine is perhaps seeking additional help with regard to air defense systems since they are subject to these barrages by the russians. i would like to see ukraine having a very strong and complete air defense shield over ukraine, similar to what the iron dome defense provides israel. i think that same kind of system ought to be provided to ukraine in order to make sure that the russians are not successful with these barrages of missile attacks that they are trying to conduct. >> could be that these patriots are intended to eventually be transferred to ukraine. but they don't have patriots -- ukraine does not yet have patriot batteries as far as i know from the u.s. >> that's right.

i think everything, frankly, should be on the table for consideration in light of what russian tactics are now, which, as i said, are nothing more than random terror attacks to try to break the will of the ukrainians. >> we have an example of what they can do when they carpet bomb. leon pennetta, thank you very much. great to see you. >> good to be with you. we will bring you the pentagon update as soon as it gets underway. you can see the briefing room is prepared. donald trump launching his third bid for the white house. a power struggle is raging inside the republican party. that's next on "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us. you are watching msnbc. bc now they can. downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters keep your laundry smelling fresh waaaay longer than detergent alone. pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load. and enjoy fresher smelling laundry.

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twice impeached former president trump says he is running for president again in 2024, despite being blamed by republicans for their midterm losses, facing multiple

investigations and helping to incite the deadly attack on the capitol. the republican establishment skipped the announcement last night, as did ivanka trump and trump junior. >> in order to make america great and glorious again, i am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the united states. [ cheers and applause ] we must conduct a top to bottom overall to clean out the festering rot and corruption of washington, d.c. [ cheers and applause ] i'm a victim, i will tell you. i'm a victim. >> joining us now is vaughan hillyard in west palm beach, phil rucker and two former members of congress, david jolly, who left the republican party, and democrat donna edwards. vaughan, you were there last night. much more low key than some of his previous rallies, more

subdued. it kept the fact checkers busy all night. >> reporter: right. it was hard to go through the speech without knowing that there was another angle to essentially every statement that he uttered. this is a third attempt at the presidency for donald trump. one notably that did not feel like a presidential launch. two of his own children were not there. a lot of the longtime allies that we have become accustom to seeing around donald trump. only two u.s. house members were there. no governors from around the country were there. that would include florida governor ron desantis. i think ivanka was the most notable absence. i want to read you part of her statement that she released shortly after the conclusion of the announcement.

as to the -- you heard him make the statement, i'm a victim. donald trump is in the heart of investigations by several different agencies. at this moment in time, this is a moment which donald trump is yet again going to play the role of political martyr. you saw it in the aftermath of january 6, essentially suggesting those individuals being prosecuted by the department of justice for engaging in an insurrection, he would potentially grant pardons to. you heard this during his two prior impeachment proceedings as well. i want to let you see a new tweet from former secretary of state mike pompeo, who has flirted with his own run in 2024, in which he references the victimhood comments saying, we need more seriousness, less noise in leaders who are looking forward, not staring in the rearview mirror claiming victimhood. this is a tough backdrop, one week after numerous election losses. it feels like for donald trump, he is the kicker that instead of

acknowledging that he missed the kick, he is looking at the other factors from wind to the refs, ultimately his political party suffered losses, he suffered one in 2020, yet he wants back out on the field. >> phil, this is -- i'm not reading from the onion, but this is from "the new york post." he has lost the murdoch primary, because this was a ribbon on page one and it was that florida man makes an announcement. then as i could show you, this graphic. the story itself said that -- i don't think we have the graphic. the story said that among his qualifications, he stated, that he is a very stable genius.

obviously, that phrase has been taken up. also said with 720 days to go before the next election, a florida retiree made the surprise announcement he was running for president. that was the coverage. >> yeah. it wasn't a surprise announcement. we have been anticipating it for days. it did not shake up the world. as vaughan noted, there were a lot of absences. it was a familiar speech with trump repeating many of the lines he has been saying year over year on the campaign trail, even lines he had back seven years ago when he first came down the escalator at trump tower to announce his 2016 campaign. you are smart to point out that "new york post" headline. it's remarkable how antagonistic the murdoch empire has been to the idea of another trump campaign. we have seen fox news have some pretty mixed commentary about

trump. they cut away from his speech live last "the wall street jour editorial board has been negative. it symbolizes the difficulty he will have in uniting the republican party behind him. he is the leader of the party. he is the most popular republican at the moment. he does not have unified control over republican officials or republican voters the way he did when he was president. he is going to have to rebuild that if he wants to be the nominee again. >> david jolly, it's hard to overstate the importance of the amplification that he received in his previous campaigns from fox news, the murdoch papers, from the support of these media organizations. >> yeah. fox news holds enormous power in the face. they cut away from the speech last night. the commentary was how the og is

back. it was actually praising donald trump. it was a demonstration of the fact that fox news gets to set the narrative for much of trump's followers and voters. if they do fully turn on trump and try to anoint desantis, that makes this a hard environment for donald trump. what you saw last night was the reality of timing for the former president. he needed to get in first to set the field, because all of the other potential candidates, the one thing they have not done -- but you are starting to see -- is directly challenge the former president. desantis has not. pence has not. pompeo has not. if trump waited, one of those potential candidates would have gotten to set the field. and donald trump would have entered after them. when somebody enters, he will have the opportunity to hit back. >> of course, the party didn't want him to get into this before georgia. he proved by the way voters reacted in the midterms that he is not a plus right now in the

midterm elections. he was a negative. it was a bad loss for some of the maga candidates. they want to win georgia. donna, president biden has not launched his re-election campaign. anticipated. he said he made a decision and been leaning towards it. he tweeted on his personal account last night, while donald trump was speaking, that trump failed america with a video ticking off january 6th and other trump era scandals. democrats are going to try to remind people of all of the baggage that donald trump has. >> i think that's absolutely right. frankly, to president biden's credit, what he needs to do is continue to play the role that he is playing now on the world stage in front of all of us, continue to do the business of being president. he can take his time making a decision about entering the 2024

race. meanwhile, the victim from florida gets to play in republican party politics while they eat and feed on their young. i do think that the former president trump, while he isn't consolidating obviously all of the political apparatus within the republican party, these elections that were held were very close races, which means that he does still have some sway, a significant part of the base. until one of those other candidates or someone steps in and decides to take that away and directly go at the former president, it's hard to see how he doesn't consolidate what he needs to secure a nomination. but we are a long way from that. the job of democrats is just stay on message, keep doing the job and demonstrate the former president's continued failure.

>> phil, let's talk about ron desantis. donald trump was announcing in florida. the sitting governor was not there. ron desantis, i think we have the comment that he made recently when asked to compare himself to donald trump. let's watch. >> when you are doing -- whether you are leading, whether you are -- when you are get things done, you take incoming fire. that's the nature of it. at the end of the day, i would tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last tuesday night. >> that's not settle pointing out he was the winner and donald trump was the big loser. >> yeah, he was. while trump is launching his presidential campaign, what we have seen ron desantis do is celebrate the win, cultivate relationships with some of the big donors, fellow republican governors and focus on what he is doing in florida for a second term. he knows that he doesn't need to

jump into this presidential race tomorrow. he can take a breath. he can focus on the record he has in florida, which proved so popular with republican voters last week in the election and how he might translate that into a national vision and into a campaign that could take on trump. >> david jolly, let's talk about the senate right now. mitch mcconnell says he has the votes to remain minority leader. although, rick scott is challenging him. listen to what mcconnell had to say about republicans in the midterms. >> we underperformed among independents and moderates, because their impression of many of the people in our party and leadership roles is that they are involved in chaos, negativity, excessive attacks. and it frightened independent and moderate republican voters. >> it is pretty clear who he is

blaming for that. >> yeah. he is right about one thing. independent voters broke towards the democrats last tuesday. i would point out to the majority leader, he is part of the party's leadership. it's clear what's happening as they are looking for a scapegoat. mcconnell wants to blame donald trump. donald trump wants to blame mitch mcconnell. this goes to the broader analysis of last tuesday that trump was uniquely responsible. i disagree. i think they are all responsible. this was an embrace of the republican party of a new direction six years ago. mitch mcconnell was part of that. now what you are seeing is his own leadership is being questioned. remarkably, it's being questioned from kind of the hard right, ted cruz, josh holly and others and mike lee have been planning this challenge for several years now. the timing doesn't seem right for them. mcconnell likely to survive. you are seeing a fracture that likely will be permanent in the republican senate caucus. >> thank you and vaughan and

phil, donna. thanks to all. we will bring you the pentagon update as soon as it gets under way. first, marriage equality. a big vote in the senate today could be a first step to guarantees legal same-sex marriage under federal law. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ep rc than the common cold. so it takes the right tool for the job... to keep it together. now there's new theraflu flu relief with a max strength fever fighting formula. the right tool for long lasting flu symptom relief. hot beats flu. (vo) with verizon, you can now get a private 5g network. so you can do more than connect your business, the right tool for long lasting flu symptom relief. you can make it even smarter. now ports can know where every piece of cargo is. and where it's going. (dock worker) right on time. (vo) robots can predict breakdowns

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that's the planning effect. from fidelity. in a few hours, the senate will hold a test vote on codifying same-sex marriage as chuck schumer tries to corral enough republicans to make it the law of the land. a bipartisan group of senators is pushing for it instead of relying on the trump appointed supreme court justices to follow legal precedent and preserve the right to gay marriage. at least ten republican votes are needed to pass it in the senate. mitt romney joined the small group signing on. more could announce today. ryan nobles joins us now. thanks for being with us. where does it stand? there was talk that maybe a couple of others might declare today. has anyone signalled what they might do? >> reporter: they haven't yet. for the most part, republicans have been behind closed doors hashing out their leadership

elections for the next congress. to your point, there seems to be plenty of confidence among democrats and republicans and the sponsors it will have the ten republican votes necessary to push the bill forward. this is just a procedural vote that we are expecting later this afternoon. it's important because if those ten votes are available, it stands to reason that they will be there for the entire passage of the bill to get it to fruition and eventually sign it into law. we have seen not only support come from the halls of congress, bipartisan bill passed the house, but even outside of congress by certain groups that you would think would normally be opposed to legislation like this. for instance, the church of latter day saints, the mormon church gave protection to the mormon members of congress saying that they could vote for a piece of legislation like this. the statement said, we believe this approach is the way forward as we work together to preserve religious freedom together with lgbt individuals.

much can be accomplished to heal relationships and foster greater understanding. that statement marries the public perception of same-sex unions as well. a recent poll shows six in ten americans believe that a positive step for the united states to codify same-sex marriage into law. we don't expect this to have a ton of opposition today. we think it has enough votes to pass. of course, we can't specifically pinpoint those ten republican senators as you alluded to earlier. we will not know for sure until the vote gets to the floor and the members cast their votes. >> i was talking to senator coons earlier, who is part of the bipartisan coalition working on this. he said that he -- they were confident that senator portman, a republican on his side, whose son is openly gay, and others in the republican caucus are going to come forward. we will see how they actually vote. ryan nobles, thanks. we are still awaiting that

pentagon update. we will bring it to you as soon as they get under way. emergency aid amid heightened tensions. the u.s. is considering sending millions more to help ukraine but not without some pushback there congress. chair the powerful house foreign affairs committee joining us next. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. a mitchell reports" on msnbc. especially at night? try vicks sinex for instant relief that lasts up to 12 hours. vicks sinex targets congestion at the source, relieving nasal congestion and sinus pressure by reducing swelling in the sinuses. try vicks sinex.

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the eat fresh® refresh just won't stop! now, subway® is refreshing their catering with easy-order platters and lunchboxes perfect for any party. pool parties... tailgates... holiday parties... even retirement parties. man, i love parties. subway keeps refreshing and refreshing tensions remain high on the border of poland and ukraine after two people were killed, most likely by a ukraiian surface to air missile. lloyd austin and mark milley are expected to speak at the pentagon. we will bring that to you live. it has been delayed. we are waiting on them. joining us now, congressman gregory meeks of new york and has returned from the climate change conference in egypt. good to see you. >> thank you. >> given what we -- thank you.

i would say given what we know now, what are you most concerned about what happened along the polish border? >> you know, look, i thank the administration and our nato allies for dotting every i and crossing every t so we know what the facts are. now that we have the facts, we know that there are concerns with russia's aggression into ukraine. we have always been concerned about these kinds of accidents and incidents taking place. the loss of human life is always a tragedy in that regard. thankfully, we are -- it wasn't something intentional. so we are not dealing with something that was intentional. so, we don't have to go to article v or article iv, for that matter. i still have grave concerns about the inhumane and criminal activity i believe the russians are presenting in regards to their attacks on civil life in

ukraine. they're attacking electricity grids. they're attacking water facilities. they're attacking things an individual will suffer during the winter months. so, their warfare, in my estimation, are crimes against humanity. some concern and continue to be concerned about that kind of aggression against ukraine. >> congressman, what about your concerns, if any, about support for the war in ukraine. the administration is proposing another military aid package now. when republicans -- which we expect they only need one more house seat to take over. when they take over in january, do you think it's going to be harder to win support for ukrainian money? >> i would be telling you other than the truth if i said i wasn't concerned. that's based upon -- when i look at the number of republicans that voted against some of the aid to ukraine previously, over 50 of them. and i think -- i hope this

continues and will be a bipartisan agreement to make sure that we continue -- >> congressman, i'm going have to interrupt you because the secretary of defense is there. i'm so sorry. >> it's been another highly successful session. now, we were meeting today, as russia continues to target ukraine's civilians and bombard its energy grid. but russia deliberate cruelty only deepens our resolve. and we'll continue to support ukraine's bedrock right to defend itself and defend the rules-based international order. yesterday, we saw reports of a deadly explosion in poland near its border with ukraine. i spoke last night to my polish counterpart, deputy prime minister and minister of national defense, and i conveyed by deep condolences to the polish people and to the loved

ones of those who were killed. i also underscored america's ironclad commitment to defend poland. we have full confidence in the polish government's investigation of this explosion, and they've been conducting that investigation in a professional and deliberate manner. and so we won't get ahead of their work. we're going to stay in close touch with our polish counterparts as well as with our nato allies and other valued partners. we're still gathering information, but we have seen nothing that contradicts president duda's preliminary assessment that this explosion was most likely the result of a ukrainian air defense missile that unfortunately landed in poland. and whatever the final conclusions may be, the world knows that russia bears ultimate responsibility for this

incident. russia launched another barrage of missiles against ukraine, specifically intended to target ukraine's civilian infrastructure. this tragic and troubling incident is yet another reminder of the recklessness of russia's war of choice. and ukraine has a bedrock right to defend itself, and we will continue to stand in solidarity with the people of ukraine, as they defend their country. and we were joined today, again today, at the contact group meeting by my good friend alexi reznikov, ukraine's minister of defense, and the lieutenant general. i spoke by phone before this morning's contact group meeting, and we're in close consultation as we move forward. ukraine's commanders have shown

tremendous leadership and tenacity, and they updated the contact group this morning on the current battlefield dynamics and on ukraine's most urgent self-defense needs. ukraine's troops continue to consolidate their gains on the battlefield, as they head into the winter. and the contact group continues to push hard to bolster ukraine's air defenses in the face of russia's ongoing barrages. i'm pleased to be able to report that the air defense systems we sent to ukraine are operational, and their performance so far has been impressive. the systems had a 100% success rate in intercepting russian missiles, as the kremlin continues its ruthless bombardment of ukraine, including yesterday's attacks. we're also working to secure more critical equipment to protect and repair ukraine's

energy infrastructure after russia's indefensible attacks. we also heard an important update from general ka voely, our supreme allied commander in europe. i'm confident that the training efforts spearheaded by the united states and many other members of this group, will equip the ukrainian forces with the skills they need to qualify their gains and to seize new opportunities on the battlefield. i would also like to acknowledge the european union's important efforts here. the eu's training program across europe will do a great deal to reinforce what other countries are doing bilaterally. also like to recognize germany and poland for their leadership in this larger mission. and let me thank the uk for pledging to train another 19,000 ukrainian troops next year. the contact group also discussed important industrial-based

initiatives to stains our security assistance to ukraine. let me also thank the department's acquisition and sustainment team as well as the cohost of the national armaments directors working group under the contact group auspices. now, all of these initiatives helped prepare the ukrainians to consolidate their gains during the winter and to prepare to seize new initiatives in the spring. you can see this contact group's ongoing unity and commitment in some of the announcements that its members made. i'd like to thank sweden for coming forward today with a substantial $287 million package of assistance to ukraine. this package includes key capabilities, including an air defense system that will bolster ukraine's ability to defend itself against russia's ongoing, ruthless attacks. spain has promised to send two more hawk launchers and missiles. canada is stepping up with its

latest traunch of $500 million in assistance. and canada remains one of the lead donors of winter gear. germany has advanced much-needed donations of air defense, artillery, and mrs ammunition. and greece also announced an important donation of 155 millimeter ammunition. and poland has committed additional artillery and tyke ammunition as well as short-range air defense capabilities. so, these contributions will make a real difference. and so does the coordination of our security assistance that this contact group makes possible. so, we will continue to deepen our work together. and the contact group has met seven times this year. and each meeting has produced tangible results that help ukraine defend itself and its citizens. you can see that progress in

ukraine's victories in kharkiv and kherson. over the weekend, the world saw ukrainian forces liberate kherson, demonstrating, once again, the determination of the ukrainian people to live free in their own country. now, our resolve is only strengthened by russia's indefensible attacks on civilian targets. and we'll continue to stand together in common purpose because no member of this contact group wants to live the in a world where big countries bulldoze their peaceful neighbors. and we won't just accept putin's imperial aggression and erosion of international norms as some kind of new normal. instead, we will continue to stand up for ukraine's inalienable rights to defend itself. we'll continue to strengthen our unity and resolve. we'll continue to show the power of partnership. and we'll continue to bolster ukraine's armed forces, by

rushing them the capabilities that they need to defend their country. and we will continue to help the people of ukraine in their fight for freedom. thank you very much, and i'll turn it over to general miley for his opening comments. >> thank you, secretary austin, and i appreciate your leadership as we gather today, this morning, for the seventh consecutive convening of the ukrainian contact group, as we've been doing every month, as you know. thanks to all the ministers of defense out there who participated and all my counterparts who participated and senior represents for almost 50 countries showed up at this meeting this morning and continue to take part in these discussions, which are very, very productive. the mission of the group remains clear, to support ukraine, as they counter the illegal and unprovoked russian aggression, and to continue to supply ukraine with the capabilities

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