Thread by @CaitlinDoornbos

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby begins a press conference. I'll live tweet per usual, but you can watch it and follow along here: defense.gov/News/Live-Even…

New: The U.S. is canceling its planned Minuteman III nuclear missile test that was scheduled for this weekend "to demonstrate we are a responsible nuclear power," Kirby said, noting the decision was made so nothing can be misconstrued as Russian tensions run high.

Remember, Russian President Vladimir Putin this week said he had heightened the readiness posture of Russia's nuclear forces as he wages war on Ukraine.

"The northern push by the Russians down south toward Kyiv remains stalled. They haven't, from our best estimates, made any appreciable progress geographically speaking in the last 24 to 36 hours."

"The town of Kherson, which they were moving on out of Crimea towards the northwest, ... is still a very contested fight. I know the Russians have claimed that they've got the town [but] we're not in a position to to call on either way. The Ukrainians are certainly fighting."

Re: Mariupol "We believe that advance is ongoing. We don't believe that [Russia is] in the city center. And we have every indication that Mariupol will be defended. If you look at Crimea ... they're branching out to both the northeast and the northwest."

We'd "like to see Moscow reciprocate by taking the temperature down on rhetoric about nuclear posture .. but the Secretary's decision was based on making sure that we were being very clear about our responsibilities in the nuclear realm." -Kirby

The decision to cancel the U.S. nuclear exercise "was not tied to a specific action or inaction by Mr. Putin, but rather a decision by the Secretary to make it clear how responsible we are going to behave in the nuclear space." -Kirby

"We're seeing occasions here early on that though [Russia] have ... combined arms capabilities, they're not being necessarily fully integrated. So they made some missteps and and they're working their way through that." -Kirby

Still, "we have to be pragmatic: the Ukrainians are fighting bravely and creatively, [but] the Russians have significant amount of combat power applied in Ukraine, and they still have some significant combat power that they have not engaged in the fight."

Russia "will try to learn from these missteps & they will try to overcome some challenges .. [but] they have been surprised by the resistance that they're facing by the Ukrainians. And I don't believe that they fully factored that in." -Pentagon press secretary

"Ukrainians are fighting for their country. And they're making a difference." -Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby

The U.S. has not seen Russia bring in troops from outside the areas that they had concentrated forces in before invading Ukraine last week.
"We haven't seen any indications that Mr. Putin is feels the need to bring in additional reinforcements from elsewhere in the country."

Putin "has at his disposal more than 150,000 troops more than 120 battalion tactical groups. The vast majority of that combat power is now in Ukraine, [but it] doesn't mean he doesn't have stuff that's not committed & it doesn't mean what he has in Ukraine has been diminished."

Russia has "lost a sense of momentum here" due to its slower-than-anticipated advance, but "it doesn't mean that they still don't have the power at their disposal."

"The Ukrainians also have retained a lot of their combat power. Our assessment is they're fighting back." -Kirby

Russia has "not taken any of the major population centers that they appear to be wanting to take. And again, we think that there's a variety of reasons for that, and not least of which is the bravery and the skill and the activity of Ukrainian fighters." -@PentagonPresSec

"We don't have perfect visibility into every vehicle that that is in the [Russia] convoy and what their intended destination is but ... it appears to be a chance to contribute to the advance on Kyiv, just based on geography." -Kirby

"We still believe it's Mr. Putin's desire to topple the [Ukrainian] government. In order to do that, he believes he has to take Kyiv. He continues to want to advance on Kyiv, that advanced has been stalled. They are working through that."

Q: How would you define Ukraine's strategy?

@PentagonPresSec: "They're defending their country, and every shot they take, every maneuver they execute, is designed to defend the sovereignty of their country. It's about defense and they're fighting a very strong defense."

@PentagonPresSec On Americans wanting to join the Ukrainian foreign legion to fight:
"We would tell Americans who want to help Ukraine is to find ways to donate and contribute to the many nonprofits that are already working to try to get humanitarian assistance into the people in need." -Kirby

@PentagonPresSec Pentagon press secretary on what he would tell American veterans wanting to join the fight in Ukraine:
"The Secretary of State has been nothing but consistent over these many day that Ukraine is not a good place for Americans to be right now."

@PentagonPresSec On what Russia aims to accomplish with the war on Ukraine: "We don't have perfect visibility into Russian plans for for Ukraine beyond what we believe to be their desire to topple the government and to supplant it with one of their own." -Pentagon Press Secretary

"This war didn't have to happen, and there's still options available to Mr. Putin that aren't in the military realm. He can still choose to continue to agree to a ceasefire, he can still move his forces out, he can still de-escalate." -Kirby

"I believe that, quite frankly, the future of Ukraine should be up to the Ukrainian people. And they are making their choices -- it's pretty clearly known through the resistance that they're offering to this unlawful and unprovoked invasion of their country." -@PentagonPresSec

@PentagonPresSec "We already had more than 80,000 troops permanently deployed to Europe or on rotational orders [before sending additional troops in recent weeks.] To give you a sense of perspective there and a NATO members themselves have nearly 2 million troops in their combined militaries."

"I don't know of any permanent [troop] posture changes that are going to come as a result of this in Europe or elsewhere. We're focused on the problem at hand and the problem [and] making sure Ukrainians can continue to defend themselves against an unprovoked invasion." -Kirby

On whether the focus on Ukraine and Russia has hurt U.S. military readiness in other areas: "In terms of our ability to defend the nation elsewhere outside of that we can do that. There's been no [degradation] in American military readiness elsewhere around the world."

On what would happen if a Russian plane approaches U.S. airspace after the new ban: "NORAD is perfectly postured. This is the mandate for NORAD to protect our homeland the North American homeland & airspace. And they're ready to to do their contribution to the president's order."

"This is not a diminution in our readiness whatsoever & doesn't change our strategic posture. It's a wise & prudent decision by the [SecDef] to send a strong clear, unambiguous message to Mr. Putin, how seriously we take our nuclear responsibilities at a particularly tense time."