ウィスパリング同時通訳研究会コミュのPentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby Holds a Press Briefing, March 29, 2022

PRESS SECRETARY JOHN F. KIRBY: Yeah, we were gone for a little while. It's good to be back. OK, a couple of things at the top. So, if you just bear with me here. I do want to take a couple of minutes right at the beginning of the briefing to talk about things in Ukraine. There's been a lot of reporting today on withdrawals and Russian decisions and I think it's really important that we put a little bit as into context. So first, again, we've seen that Russia has attempted now for going on a month to sell this war theirs to its domestic audience as a quote, ‘liberation of the Donbas.’

However, the intensified rhetoric over the last year and in the lead up to Russia's invasion demonstrated that the Kremlin's real intent was to overthrow the democratically elected government and to occupy or annex large portions of Ukraine. The posture of Russian forces around Kyiv, along much of the Black and the Azov Sea coasts and in central and northeastern Ukraine indicates the geographic scale of this ambition.

They've been attacking Ukraine ,as we have been talking about now for several weeks, on multiple lines of axes. Russia's intent was to replace Ukrainian regional and national authorities and create so called People's Republics, as displayed recently in Kherson Province. The rapid advance to Kyiv in the initial days of the war showed very clearly for all of us that Kyiv and a capital city was a key objective for the Russians.

So, we ought not be fooled, and nobody should be fooling ourselves, by the Kremlin's now recent claim that it will suddenly just reduce military attacks near Kyiv, or any reports that it's going to withdraw all its forces.

Has there been some movement by some Russian units away from Kyiv in the last day or so? Yes, we think so, small numbers. But we believe that this is a repositioning not a real withdraw, and that we all should be prepared to watch for a major offensive against other areas of Ukraine. It does not mean that the threat to Kyiv is over. Russia has failed in its objective of capturing Kyiv. It's failed in its objective of subjugating Ukraine, but they can still inflict massive brutality on the country, including on Kyiv. We see that even today and continued airstrikes against the capital city.

Mr. Putin's goals stretch far beyond the Donbas. The Russian Ministry of Defense's recent talking points may be an effort to move the goal posts, moderating Russia's immediate goals and spinning its current lack of progress as part of what would be next steps. But it's too early to judge what additional actions the Kremlin may take.

No amount of spin can mask what the world has witnessed over the past month. And that's the courage and the military prowess of Ukraine's armed forces and its people. Which are proving to be more than what Russia bargained for in its unprovoked and unjustified invasion.

Now that prowess is not accidental. We've talked about that a little bit. It's partly a result of the training and the support we and other allies, over the last eight years, have been given to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The United States together with our allies and partners, we're going to continue to provide that support going forward to meet their security needs as they bravely stand up to this Russian aggression.

I thought it was really important to kind of set the level straight there on that because I've seen, again, lots of reporting here on the so-called withdrawals.

Now in other news, Balikatan 22 started this week. This is a long standing annual bilateral military exercise conducted between the U.S. military, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It's a key component of our alliance cooperation.

The exercise features planning, operations, exchanges and activities that increase both our nation's military capabilities to provide for the mutual defense of the Philippine archipelago. Exercise activities will occur at multiple locations throughout the Republic of the Philippines. And will consist of three primary components; a bilateral staff exercise, joint interoperability events, and combined interoperability events, as well as humanitarian and civic assistance efforts.

With more than 3,800 members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and 5,100 U.S. service members, this will be the largest iteration of Balikatan to date. We look forward to a meaningful, productive exercise and we're grateful for that terrific relationship that we have with the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

And then last but not least today, the final COVID-19 response teams in active-duty status, who were supporting 59 cities across 30 states completed their mission at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City. Since the onset of the outbreak, more than 24,000 military members in active-duty status have provided support to the whole of government effort.

The support included approximately 5,800 military medical providers that supported hospitals and other civilian medical facilities, more than 5,000 military medical personnel administering vaccines at federal community vaccination centers, as well as military personnel who assisted citizens when they were initially repatriated back to the U.S. in the very early days of the outbreak.

In January of this year, the Department activated more than 1,000 service members in support of the President's direction to mobilize additional military medical personnel. And of those service members, DoD deployed nearly 700, who supported 25 hospitals in 14 states just from January to March. The rest of these military members were on standby throughout that time period ready to deploy at the request of FEMA if they were required.

It's important to note that while the Title 10 COVID-19 response may have come to a close, as of this morning, there are still more than 10,800 National Guard soldiers and airmen supporting COVID-19 response efforts in at least 43 states, territories, and the District of Columbia. And I also want to add that NORTHCOM remains postured as well to deploy more personnel, if requested.

And of course, the Secretary wants to take this opportunity to pass on his personal gratitude and that of all senior leaders at the Department for the extraordinary work that the men and women of this department have done throughout the pandemic, but certainly, in just the last few months, to work so hard in support of our civilian medical practitioners.