Sec. Austin Reacts To President Zelensky's Calls For US To Give Patriot Missile Systems To Ukraine

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During a press briefing following a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was asked about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's calls for the US and allies to provide his nation with Patriot Missile Systems.  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00 Our first question will go to Associated Press.

00:02 Lita.

00:03 Hi.

00:04 Good afternoon.

00:05 Thank you so much.

00:06 Mr. Secretary, President Zelensky this morning made it clear that his country needs patriot

00:12 systems, not just the initiatives that go with it.

00:16 Can you say how much, if any, progress you all made today on that, considering a number

00:21 of allies have expressed reluctance in sending these systems that they just don't have

00:27 very many of?

00:28 And, Mr. Chairman, if I could switch to a different topic for you.

00:33 On Gaza, a lot of the aid agencies are very concerned about security in and around the

00:40 port, particularly as things move ahead to distribution of aid.

00:44 What assurances have you gotten from the Israelis about security at the port, including from

00:49 their own troops who have had incidents where they have killed aid workers?

00:54 Can you just talk a little bit about that?

00:58 Well, thanks, Lita.

00:59 In terms of patriots and what we'll be able to do going forward, it's left to be seen,

01:06 but I can tell you that we continue to work on this in a very earnest manner.

01:15 All of the countries that have patriots certainly value that capability, but I think going forward

01:24 we'll be able to hopefully work with a number of countries to put together additional patriot

01:30 capability.

01:31 And you may have noticed that in the last several days I've been talking one-on-one

01:38 with some of my European counterparts, actually discussing this issue and other issues.

01:44 But again, we're going to continue to work at this until we have the right kinds of capability.

01:52 Now, I would point out that it's not just patriot that, you know, they need.

01:59 They need other types of systems and interceptors as well.

02:02 And so I would caution us all in terms of making patriot the silver bullet.

02:09 I would say that it's going to be the integrated air and missile defense, as we've said so

02:14 many times before, that really turns the tide.

02:18 And so there are other capabilities that they need that we really pushed hard to get, and

02:23 we may be able to get to the Ukrainians a bit faster, but this work continues on.

02:30 And you know that Jen Stoltenberg talked to all the ministers of defense on this very

02:36 same issue a week ago.

02:38 And in addition to the point-to-point work that I'm doing with my colleagues, you know,

02:43 we'll continue to emphasize that countries are going to have – we're going to ask

02:49 them to accept a little bit more risk so that we can do what's necessary in Ukraine.

02:54 So.

02:55 SECRETARY TILLERSON: I appreciate the question.

02:57 One of the areas that we've been focused on as we move down the path of bringing our

03:02 joint logistics over the shore and build the port on the beaches of Gaza there is not only

03:08 the security of the port itself, the security of our forces, but also the security of the

03:12 distribution and also the aid workers.

03:16 And a couple things that we've done is engaged not only with our Israeli counterparts, but

03:21 also with some of the aid agencies as well.

03:24 And so as I've engaged with my counterpart, we've talked specifically about security

03:29 for the port area as well as the distribution.

03:34 After the unfortunate incident that killed the way their workers from the World Central

03:40 Kitchen, I've talked to my Israeli counterpart about the incident itself, the investigation

03:46 it did, and the corrective actions they were putting in place.

03:49 And that has been part of the discussion between – as United States Central Command leadership

03:54 has been engaging with the various agencies that will help with the distribution to provide

03:59 them the confidence that we've worked with – closely with the Israelis to provide for

04:04 their protection as – and ensure that they have the procedures in place so you don't

04:09 evidence that very similar to what occurred previously.

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