Secretary Antony J. Blinken Remarks to the Press

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, good morning, everyone. First, it's a pleasure as always to be back at NATO. We had very good discussions with the secretary general, Mark Rutte - delighted to see him at the helm of the Alliance in this critical moment - as well as with all of our NATO colleagues at the North Atlantic Council.

The purpose of this visit is to focus our efforts on ensuring that Ukraine has the money, the munitions, and the mobilized forces to fight effectively in 2025 or to be able to negotiate a peace from a position of strength. And this is a critical moment because we see, first, the ongoing Russian onslaught against Ukraine in the east as well as against civilians, against critical energy infrastructure. We see now the introduction of North Korean forces into the fight, and this is a profound and incredibly dangerous development in two ways - first, of course, because it's adding fuel to the fire for Russia's aggression against Ukraine, and that's of deep concern to everyone around the NATO table. But it's also a two-way street. The relationship between Russia and North Korea is working in both directions, and there is deep concern about what Russia is or may be doing to strengthen North Korea's capacities - its missile capacity, its nuclear capacity - as well as the experience that the North Korean forces are getting in their efforts to support Russia against Ukraine.

So there is a clear commitment that this gets - and it will get - a firm response from the Alliance, from many countries that are concerned both in the Euro-Atlantic theater and in the Indo-Pacific.

As we're working to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs to effectively defend itself, the United States continues to step up. We've obligated just recently and pushed out the door another $8 billion in security assistance for Ukraine - that was in September, another almost half a billion dollars just a few weeks ago, and President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and January 20th. We're making sure that Ukraine has the air defenses it needs, that has the artillery it needs, that has the armored vehicles it needs.

But as always, this is not just the United States. We have more than 50 countries working actively in support of Ukraine. And as I said before, this is maybe the best example of burden sharing that I've ever seen in 32 years that I've been doing this. The United States has dedicated about a hundred billion dollars to Ukraine, allies and partners around the world $150 billion, and we continue to see that every day.

But it's also a moment for everyone to do more, and we're counting on European partners and others to strongly support Ukraine's mobilization with training and equipment for these forces. We need to see more artillery, more air defenses, more munitions getting to the Ukrainians, and we had a good conversation about all the work that allies and partners will be doing to step up to this moment as well.

It's also more broadly an important moment for the Alliance, and we discussed this with the secretary general and with our colleagues around the North Atlantic Council. We'll be looking in the weeks ahead at the strategy that NATO has for dealing with Russia and particularly making sure that we have the strongest possible defense and deterrence. We'll be looking at what we're doing to deal with some of the challenges posed by China, including the support that China is giving to Russia in the war of aggression through its support for Russia's defense industrial base. We'll be looking at the challenge of hybrid threats, including those coming from Russia.

All of this is front and center in our agenda, but today the focus was intensely on what we're doing and what we're doing together to make sure that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position heading into 2025.

Finally, this. As we were looking at the state of our Alliance - not just in the struggle with Russia for Ukraine but more broadly - I think we can say that we have an Alliance that is stronger, bigger, more effective than it's ever been as a result of the work of the last four years. And the ongoing importance of making sure that we have a strong NATO - one that we're engaged in, invested in, and helping to lead - I think could not be more vital than it is now.

Here's what we know, here's what we know from history over these last 75 years, and here's what we know looking forward. The best way to defend ourselves, to prevent wars, to have security, is through the investments we're making in NATO and in our other alliances and partnerships. NATO in particular is founded on this principle: An attack on one is an attack on all. And that means that any would-be aggressor, anyone looking to take the fight to a NATO country, knows that if they do that, they have to take on all NATO countries. That is the strongest possible deterrent to war. It's the best way to prevent war in the first place. It's the best way to ensure our security. And that's why it's so vital that we continue to invest in this extraordinary Alliance and continue to lead in this extraordinary Alliance.

Happy to take some questions.

MODERATOR: Nike Ching.

QUESTION: Good morning, Mr. Secretary.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Good morning.

QUESTION: Several questions for you if you may indulge me. On Ukraine, is there any development on lifting restrictions on long-range fire? What can the U.S. realistically do to improve the situation in Ukraine in the remaining time you have that cannot be easily undone? Are there any new ideas you hope to implement, and can you also outline specific actions the U.S. and NATO Allies do in response to North Korea's direct support for Russia's war in Ukraine?

On Gaza, many humanitarian organizations are saying the situation in Gaza has actually gotten worse since you sent your letter 30 days ago and that Israel has failed to address several of the listed concerns. Moving forward, what motivation will Israel have to improve the conditions on the ground when you fail to follow through on your previous warnings? Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thanks very much. So on Ukraine, as I said, the President is determined that we push every dollar out the door that we have at our disposal, notably from the $61 billion supplemental that was passed on a bipartisan basis by Congress some months ago, and we're on track to do exactly that. So the drawdowns that we can do from our military equipment, they will go forward. Obligating funds, that will go forward. And that should ensure that Ukraine continues to receive from us what it needs.

But equally important is the work of our allies and partners. And as I said, we have 50 countries that have been acting in support of Ukraine. And I am convinced from the conversations we had today and the conversations we have virtually every day that that support will continue. And not only continue; I expect it to increase and that our partners will continue to more than pick up their share of the burden. So that's critical.

In terms of exactly what we're doing, I've said this before, I'll say it again: Every month that we've been engaged in the defense of Ukraine since the Russian aggression we have adapted and adjusted to the needs of Ukraine as the battlefield changes, as what Russia is doing changes, as new elements are introduced - for example, the North Korean forces. And I can tell you that we will continue to adapt and adjust, again, to make sure that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position to deal with this aggression, to deter further aggression, to effectively defend itself.

On the Middle East and on Gaza, let me be very clear about both the intent and the effect of the letter that Secretary Austin and I sent a month ago to our Israeli counterparts. The intent was to inject a sense of urgency with Israel to take necessary steps to address the dire humanitarian situation of children, women, and men in Gaza. The effect has been that of the 15 steps that we urged action on, Israel has taken action either in implementing or being in the process of implementing 12 of the 15 steps.

There are three big issues that still need to be addressed that come from the letter - first, making sure that when Israel engages in an operation and people have been evacuated from an area, that once that operation is done it rescind the evacuation order so that people can return and we can start to take down some of this horrific overcrowding that we're seeing in parts of Gaza where people have been sent to. So that's one.

Second, we want to see along with the humanitarian assistance getting in commercial trucks getting in with commercial goods. This is vital because so many of the things that commercial truckers bring in, including things like fruits and vegetables, are absolutely essential to the balanced nutrition for people in Gaza. That, in turn, is critical to making sure they have the immunities they need to fight off disease, and that's not something normally the humanitarians do. This comes in through commercial means. The challenge there in terms of restoring commercial trucking has been a huge problem of lawlessness and looting inside of Gaza that needs to be addressed and that we're working on finding a solution to. But right now there are 900 trucks that are inside of Gaza at Karem Shalom that's backed up. They can't be distributed because of this looting and because of the criminality. So it's imperative that that be addressed. Israel has responsibilities to do that. We're also working with Egypt.

And then in my judgment maybe most significant, we need to see real and extended pauses in large areas of Gaza, pauses in any fighting, any combat, so that the assistance can effectively get to people who need it. There are huge challenges in that regard, but we've also seen real solutions. The polio vaccination campaign was the one thing that's been very successful in Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of children got polio vaccines. But critical to success in doing that was having extended pauses for days, not simply hours as is the case right now, to make sure that everyone bringing assistance in has the ability to bring it in and to distribute it and to have space to do that.

So we will be working on this intensely in the days ahead. I'll be discussing this further with President Biden. And the responsibility that Israel has in terms of making sure that assistance to the best of its ability can get to people who need it is an ongoing responsibility. And I believe that the steps that it's taken over the last weeks to address what we had in our letter, those steps would not have been taken absent the letter. But it's also critical, as the letter made clear, that not only are these steps taken but they need to be fully implemented and they need to be sustained if they're going to have effect. Yes, the last month has been terrible for people. The letter went out - already we were into October. We're starting to see, as I said, implementation of most of the steps that we've laid out. It will take some time for them to have effect. And again, they have to be fully implemented and they have to be sustained. But even with that, I think it's essential that we see things like more extended pauses.

Now, the hard, bottom-line truth is also this. Even with all of these steps, the situation is so difficult and so dramatic that to fully redress it, to fully answer the needs of people, the best way to do that is to end the war. And from my perspective, what we've seen is this: Israel, by the standards it set itself, has accomplished the goals that it set for itself, the strategic goals it set for itself. It was rightly determined to make sure to the best of its ability that October 7th could never happen again. To do that, it said that it needed to dismantle the military organization of Hamas and to get the leadership that was responsible for October 7th. It's done both of those things.

So this should be a time to end the war. To do that, I think we need two things fundamentally. One is we have to make sure that the hostages come home, including the seven Americans. We've been working, as you know, on trying to get an agreement on a hostage and ceasefire deal. Hamas tragically has demonstrated that it's not going to engage on that despite the renewed efforts we've made in recent weeks. It's one of the reasons why Qatar has told them to leave Qatar.

But we also need to make sure that we have a plan for what follows, and this is something I've been working on intensely in recent weeks so that if Israel decides to end the war and we find a way to get the hostages out, we also have a clear plan so that Israel can get out of Gaza and we make sure that Hamas is not going back in.

So those plans we're moving ahead as intensely as we can to flesh them out, to put them in place. But short of ending the war, which we believe now is the time to move to that, we have to see these humanitarian steps fully implemented, sustained, and as I said, particularly with regard to pauses having more extensive pauses.

One final thing on this. Israel has to meet these responsibilities, and we will be tracking this every single day. I would note though as well that it's extraordinary to me that as from almost day one there is no focus on Hamas and almost deafening silence around the world on Hamas. Not only has it rejected engaging on the hostage/ceasefire proposals, not only has it rejected even smaller proposals that would have cost it nothing to release a small number of hostages and actually have Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails in return, not only that, but a couple of weeks ago Israel said we will guarantee safe passage for every Hamas militant out of Gaza, just give us the hostages back. And they refused. Is anyone talking about that? The world has been silent on that, too.

So it would be good to also see some genuine, sustained, effective pressure on Hamas to do its part to end something that it started and that the Palestinian people who are caught in this crossfire of Hamas' initiation didn't start and themselves are powerless to stop.

MODERATOR: Zoriana Stepanenko.

QUESTION: Thank you so much for giving me the floor. Secretary Blinken, you just mentioned that since Russian full-scale invasion (inaudible) in 2022 you and United States partners are adjusting to Ukraine's current needs. However, Ukraine has outlined its own needs in so-called victory plan (inaudible) United States leadership, and one of the needs is to lift the restrictions of using the long-range weapon inside Russian territory. Is there any chance that you will review your current decision and finally release those restrictions, and what are the prospects?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: So first, we're addressing many of the needs that are laid out in the victory plan. That's something that we discussed with allies and partners today. And as I said a moment ago, the hallmark of our support for Ukraine starting in February of '22 and carrying forward to today is making sure that we're adapting and adjusting to Ukraine's needs as the battlefield changes, as what Russia is doing changes, where the front lines are, how the war is being conducted, how the aggression is being conducted. And I am convinced that we will continue to adapt and adjust as necessary.

Thanks. Thanks, everyone.

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