John Kirby, Strategic Communications Coordinator of the White House National Security Council, answered journalists’ questions at a daily press conference.
Announcing that the US military will provide new military aid to Ukraine from its own inventory, Kirby noted that the new package includes additional ammunition for Patriot air defense systems, Stingers and the High Performance Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
The US Department of Defense (Pentagon) also announced that the military aid package is worth $300 million and includes demining equipment and artillery munitions of various sizes.
Kirby stated that they are working with the Ukrainians to operationalize the 10-point peace plan of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. On the other hand, Kirby stated that they received assurances from the Ukrainian authorities that they would not attack Russian territory.
SUDAN
Evaluating the suspension of participation by the Sudanese army in the Jeddah talks with the Rapid Support Forces (HDK) in Saudi Arabia, supported by Riyadh and Washington, as “great misfortune”, Kirby emphasized that they want humanitarian aid to reach Sudan and the conflicts to end.
“We want them to take the opportunity for peace seriously,” Kirby said. He said that the United States is helping to facilitate the talks and they want to see Sudanese parties act accordingly.
CHINESE
Regarding a Chinese J-16 fighter’s aggressive maneuvering of a US RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft in the South China Sea, Kirby said it was unsafe, dangerous and unprofessional.
Underlining that they want to keep communication channels open with China in order to prevent possible misunderstandings in such situations, Kirby said that they wish to return to the “Bali spirit”, referring to the meeting between the leaders of the two countries at the G20 Summit in Bali Island of Indonesia last year. .
BIDEN-ERDOĞAN MEETING AND F-16 SUBJECT
Kirby, on a question about US President Joe Biden’s statement that he will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan next week, stated that there is no current information about when the meeting will take place.
Noting that Biden has long supported the sale of F-16s to Turkey, Kirby reiterated that this is not an issue related to Sweden’s membership in NATO.
“It would be wrong to say that there is some kind of connection between these two. We want to see[Turkey]get F-16s,” Kirby said. he said.
SCAN READ
Kirby was also asked about Tara Reade’s decision to defect to Russia, who claimed that Biden had abused her in the past. Coordinator Kirby denied that Reade was threatened by the US government.
DEVELOPMENTS IN KOSOVO
Saying that they condemn the attacks on NATO’s Peace Force in Kosovo (KFOR), Kirby stated that these attacks are “unacceptable”.
Kirby urged the governments of Kosovo and Serbia to take steps to reduce tensions and stated that they wanted to reduce tension and stop violence in the region. (AA)