allies and partners from the balkans to the caucuses. strengthening you canes trickle ukraine s capacity to defend itself against russian aggression is central to the team s mission. the united states and the allies provide ukraine with security assistance because it s in our national security interests to deter russian aggression around the world. we also provide security assistance so that ukraine can negotiate a peace with russia from a position of strength. the human toll continues to climb in this ongoing war, with 14,000 ukrainian lives lost since russia s 2014 invasion. these sacrifices are continually in my mind as i lead dod efforts to provide vital training and equipment, including defensive legal assistance to the ukrainian armed forces. i have also supported a robust ukrainian ministry of defense program of defense reform to
community expressed unanimous support for resuming the funding in the u.s. national security interest. there was also a discussion of how ukrainian anti-corruption efforts were making progress. dod reiterated what we had said in our earlier certification to congress, stating that defense reform including anti-corruption had occurred to justify the usai spending. i, and others at the interagency meetings, felt that the matter was particularly urgent, because it takes time to obligate that amount of money, and my understanding was that the money was legally required to be obligated by september 30th, the end of the fiscal year. in the ensuing weeks until the hold was released on september 11th i pursued three tracks. first, starting july 31st at an interagency meeting, i made clear to interagency leadership my understanding that once dod
advocating for greater dialogue. he said today, i believe our given task is reform the military. i believe we need a complete overhaul instead of defense reform at the level of minor improvements for modifications. to put that into context, these are words he spoke at a ceremony. he said these words to military commanders. these were not a direct response to the ratcheting up of rhetoric we ve seen from both south korea and the u.s. but this is certainly a realization of the intensity of the situation that has unfolded on the peninsula and the security threat that south korea very much feels that they are under. they ve lived under a threat for decades. it has certainly reached its highest level when you talk about the fact that north korea has shown that they can test these icbms, that they may have the capacity to miniaturize a nuclear weapon. look, north korea doesn t need to use nukes, they don t need to use icbms to launch an attack right here in the region. they can use the conve
here are not commenting publically on the incendiary statements that came from the u.s. president donald trump. of course, the united states and south korea are longstanding allies. south korea depends on the us for its defense. but the president did today repeat the platform that he has recently taken up. he is talking a lot more about what south korea needs to do to improve its ability to defend itself. here is what he said. i believe our given task is reform of the military. we need a complete overhaul instead of defense reform at a level of minor improvement or modifications. he made those remarks during a military ceremony. that s a reflection of a platform he has taken up. it was the subject of a conversation he had over the phone with donald trump this weekend, talking about the need for south korea to be able to expand its ability to defend itself and to help defend the region as north korea presents a mounting security threat.
defense reform, build up its own capacity to defend itself. as we undertake these endeavors, i hope we will gather. second, economic partnership between our countries, foreign and essential pillars for future elements of the alliance. we both agreed on this. economic growth and job creation were promoted to ensure our people enjoy greater mutual benefits through the collective supports where making. the third, as we fight against terrorism and other global challenges together, the alliance has agreed and will broaden and develop into a global partnership. as we move forward, our two nations will work toward establishing high levels of competition mechanisms. to make it happen, concrete actions will be formulated and