Thread by @jseldin

Happening now: @SecDef Lloyd Austin testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee

.@SecDef joined by @thejointstaff Chairman Gen Mark Milley

"We are now facing 2 global powers, #China & #Russia" warns @thejointstaff's Gen Milley

"We are entering a world that is becoming more unstable & the potential for significant int'l conflict btw great powers is increasing..."

"The #Russia|n invasion of #Ukraine is threatening to undermine not only #European peace & stability but global peace & stability that my parents & generations of Americans fought so hard to defend" per @thejointstaff's Gen Milley

Call last month btw @SecDef & his #China counterpart "the first of what I hope will be many conversations", Austin tells lawmakers

"We both recognize the importance of dialogue...We both want to make sure that we work together to promote security & stability in the region"

#Russia-#Ukraine

"The endgame will be defined by the #Ukrainian gvt as it engages w/Russia" per @SecDef

"We're going to continue to do everything within our power to make sure that we support Ukraine & its efforts to defend its sovereign territory"

"We hope that at the end of this that #Ukraine will be a sovereign state w/a functioning gvt that can protect its territory" per @SecDef

"At the end of the day...it's all about the rules-based int'l order has been grossly violated by #Russia" per @thejointstaff's Gen Milley

"It's beyond #Ukraine, what's at stake. Our intent is to uphold & maintain the rules-based int'l order"

"You could make the case...that he's already escalated" @SecDef tells lawmakers abt #Russia's Vladimir Putin

"...the types of things that we see him doing in attacking civilians, destroying cities, towns & villages, indiscriminate targeting

#Putin "could escalate by conducting a #cyber even or there's been a lot of talk abt the possible employment of #chem-#bio" per @Secdef

"Of course, if he employs a chemical, biological weapon, he will see a reaction from the int'l community"

"I certainly hope that he [#Putin] chooses to not do that" per @SecDef re possible chemical, biological attack by #Russian

"The int'l response will be significant"

#Russia's war in #Ukraine - "This is a war of choice" per @SecDef "He [#Putin] could end this war today...stop fighting & withdraw his forces"

"This is the decision of one man"

From #Ukraine to #Mosul, US seeing "fundamental change in the character of war" per @thejointstaff's Milley

"One of those changes is highly-dense urban area combat" he says, pointing to #Russia's failure in the battle for #Kyiv

Other changes-drones, use of air defense systems

#Ukraine telling US that w/security assistance "it's getting to where it needs to go" @SecDef tells lawmakers

"We have learned a lot abt #Russia's leadership at the lower levels" from war in #Ukraine, per @SecDef "...which I think has been very, very key in their efforts here"

#Russia-"They have modern equipment. They have lots of it" per @SecDef, adding "They have a doctrine that really wasn't followed"

"And so as we saw things unfold on the ground, we saw them not able to support themselves logistically..."

"We saw them [#Russia] make some bad assumptions at the very beginning of this. We saw them to fail to integrate their aerial fires w/their ground maneuvers" per @SecDef "Just a number of missteps"

"I attribute a lot of that to a lack of leadership at the lower levels"

"We saw #Russia push their senior officers forward as a result of that and many of those were killed" per @SecDef

"We'll see some of the same mistakes, the same weaknesses as the prosecute the fight in the #Donbas & the southern part of the country [#Ukraine]" per @SecDef

"But they [#Russia] will learn from th lessons, learn from what they did in the early stages" per @SecDef "But some things they won't be able to correct"

Should #Putin issue a formal declaration of war, he "will be able to mobilize more ppl" per @SecDef, but calls it "questionable" whether new conscripts could be adequately prepared for the battlefield

Declaration of war "does have some implications inside #Russia|n society...would allow him to mobilize additional forces" per @thejointstaff's Gen Milley

Intelligence flow from US to #Ukraine prior to #Russia's invasion "made a significant difference in outcomes" per @thejointstaff's Gen Milley

.@RoyBlunt on US stockpiles depleted by aid to #Ukraine: "The #Javelins, that's about 1/3 of our stockpile...the #Stingers abt 25% of our stockpile"

"Is it possible to replace a third of our stockpile or let's say 50 percent before we're done here within a year?"

.@SecDef on replacing US stockpiles of #Stingers #Javelins after sending thousands to #Ukraine:

"It's not only possible, we will do that" Austin says "We will never go below our minimum requirement or for our stockpiles"