civilization at stake. he s laying out the stakes clearly ali and this is what you re seeing on the ground as you re talking to people in ukraine with more an more news coming out about how bad it s getting and, for example, as you mentioned, mariupol, some of these cities that the russians are taking. that s right. the situation is becoming increasingly dire along the east of the country, the south of the country, the north of the country. zelenskyy is saying listen, we need all the help we can get. a lot of stuff he asked for, he didn t get. he wanted the no-fly zone, he wants the s-300 defensive anti-aircraft defensive systems. they didn t have them. but they are getting more stuff, more than we anticipated. you know, anti-aircraft systems, anti-armor systems, light armament, possibly the javelins we ve spoken about before. they ll take anything. the reality is n this country, anybody from the age of any
fighter jets. why is the u.s. so reluctant? bianna, good to be with you. we heard from president zelenskyy a few asks. more sanctions, more security defenses, more assistance from what the russians are raining down from the air and the united states has and will continue to provide all of that. you mentioned $800 million in new security assistance that we announce yesterday. the total is a billion dollars this week alone. $2 billion since the start of this administration. working with the department of defense, we are providing our ukrainian partners with precisely what they need to take on this russian threat and to defend themselves and that includes anti-armored systems, anti-tank systems, anti-aircraft systems. a sort of surface to air system that president zelenskyy has been asking for, in addition to small arms and munitions. beyond what we provided in our own inventory, the department of state and secretary blinken personally authorized some 14 countries to provide supplies fr
residential building. today it was a bread line. there s still also the threat of russia using chemical weapons. when does this cross the line from war to genocide? we may have crossed the line. i m not sure yet. that we ll determine in the long run. but i think what we have is a situation where you just heard the president, particularly the s-300s. what president zelenskyy has been asking for was to make sure that they get some security from the air. clearly we can see what they re doing on the ground. they re knocking the heck out of russia on the ground. they need the protection from the air. these s-300s and longer-range artillery forces is what will help close the sky. i want to make sure we re clear talking about closing the skies. president zelenskyy is not asking for american troops or american equipment or anything
that are having the biggest effect in stopping russian forces are the javelin anti-tank missiles, stingers, and shoulder-fired missiles. russia has powerful air defense systems on the border with belarus and russia, and mobile units that blanket much of ukraine s air space which makes flying any war planes over ukraine difficult right now. anti-aircraft systems would have to be taken out by ukraine s air force before it could even fly those migs to any effect. the pentagon says other capabilities are having greater effect. u.s. has transferred 17,000 javelin stinger and shoulder fired air systems in ukraine. these weapons are flowing like water, one lawmaker recently told me, this remains mostly a ground war with russians increasingly relying on artillery. the migs if used would likely
nobody knows whether it may have already started. president biden announced the u.s. is sending $800 million in new military aid to ukraine. that aid includes anti aircraft systems, anti-armor systems, machine guns and drones. and that s on top of what we are already doing. the american people will be steadfast in our support for the people of ukraine in the face of putin s immoral, unethical attacks on civilian populations. we are united in our abhorrence of putin s depraved onslaught. we will continue to have their backs as they fight for their freedom, democracy and very survival. meanwhile, ukrainian forces are trying to gain momentum on their side, launching their own counterattacks on russian positions outside kyiv in a russian occupied city. the goal is to cause, as one official told the new york times , maximum losses from the