🧵Senior military official briefing on Ukraine🧵

"There's particularly intense fighting near Bahkmut in the Donbas region where Russian forces are conducting offensive ground operations in an attempt to take the city." "Fighting remains heavy and the Russians have made some incremental gains and taking territory, however Ukraine continues to hold the city."

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@SecDef and JCSC Milley speak after today's Ukraine Defense Contract Group meeting🧵

"Yesterday we saw reports of a deadly explosion in Poland near its border with Ukraine ... I underscored America is ironclad commitment to defend Poland." @SecDef "We're still gathering information but we have seen nothing that contradicts [Polish] President Duda's preliminary assessment that this explosion was most likely the result of Ukrainian air defense missile that unfortunately landed in Poland."

Pentagon briefing is set to begin at 2 p.m. Hoping DOD Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder will address this report.

https://twitter.com/PhilipinDC/status/1592588781248745474

🧵Pentagon press briefing begins🧵

"We are aware of the press reports alleging that two Russian missiles have struck a location inside Poland near the Ukraine border .. We don't have any information at this time to corroborate those reports and are looking into this further."

🧵Senior US military official on Ukraine updates🧵
"The most significant element over the weekend was the Russian military's withdrawal from Kherson city and the west bank of the Dnipro River." While we continue to monitor, we do assess that Russian forces have relocated onto the eastern side [and] established their defensive lines."

🧵National Security Council spokesman John Kirby briefs White House press🧵

On Russia's false claim that Ukraine is preparing to deploy a "dirty bomb":

"It's a common Russian play .. to blame others for what they are doing themselves or about to do themselves." "... which is why we took it very seriously when the Russian defense minister called the Secretary of Defense and said that they had information that the Ukrainians were were fixing to use a dirty bomb – obviously it's a false allegation. It's not true."

So I rarely post personal things, but I think it's important I share a pretty scary situation that happened to me recently in case it can help someone else.

TL;DR – Check your medication against the description on the bottle to make sure your pharmacist gave you the right drug. I filled a prescription 3 weeks ago for a medicine I've been using for years. The pills looked a little different, but that happens sometimes when they switch generic providers so I didn't think anything of it.

Pentagon briefing with Brig. Gen. Ryder🧵

"From a US standpoint, the allegations that Ukraine is building a dirty bomb are false. We have not seen at this time, though, any indication that Russia has made a decision or intends to employ nuclear weapons or a dirty bomb [either.]" "There would be consequences for Russia, whether it uses a nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb. So we'll continue to keep the lines of communication open and in the meantime, our focus from the Department of Defense standpoint, we'll continue to be on supporting Ukraine."

NSC spokesman John Kirby confirms Russia has been using Iranian drones across Ukraine with Iranian troops on the ground in Crimea helping Russian soldiers in deploying them. "Both Iran and Russia continue to lie about it, denying that Iran is providing weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine … They can lie to the world, but they certainly can't hide the facts."

🧵Senior military and senior defense officials brief press on the 233rd day of Russia's war on Ukraine🧵

SMO says Russians have launched hundreds of missiles in retaliation for the destruction of the Crimea bridge. "The use of precision guided munitions in a very imprecise way has continued over the course of the week … In most cases, they have been used at civilian targets either indiscriminately or deliberately."

🧵Jan. 6 committee holds its (likely) final hearing before midterms🧵

Follow along here in this thread or look for our @nypost updates below. nypost.com/2022/10/13/jan… Chairman Thompson: "It's tough for any congressional investigation to obtain evidence like what we've received, least of all such a detailed view into a president's inner circle. I want to be clear, not all these witnesses were thrilled to talk to us. Some put up quite a fight."

🧵@SecDef and Joint Staff Chair Milley speak after Ukraine Contact Group meeting🧵

"In the past few days, Putin has given us all another grim preview of a future in which the appetites of aggressive autocrats outweigh the rights of peaceful states – we would all be less secure." @SecDef SecDef: "We discussed ways to do even more to train Ukrainian forces who are making such impressive use of their new capabilities and we pushed to galvanize our industrial bases to fire up production for the systems to defend Ukraine even while meeting our own security needs."

🧵Senior U.S. defense official on the latest in Ukraine.

"We have another major security assistance package that we are about to unveil and this continues our tradition of providing the Ukrainians what they need when they need it." This package will be valued at up to $775 million.

"It does come on the heels of our August 8 package that was $1 billion. This is a presidential drawdown package, and is the 19th presidential drawdown package since August of 2021."

U.S. is "deeply concerned" about Russia's control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
"The International Atomic Energy Agency must be given access to [it] ASAP ... to help ensure the safety and security of the plant and monitoring of its nuclear material."-State Dept. spox "Brutality has been a hallmark of Russia's war against Ukraine. The United States is aware of reports that Russian personnel have abused and coerced members of the [Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant] staff.' - State Dept. Spokesman Ned Price

🧵Senior U.S. military official -- Day 170 of Russia's war on Ukraine.

Russia continues firing "artillery and indirect fires indiscriminately." "In the north and Kharkiv, we're actually seeing some Ukrainian gains -- these aren't large gains." UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights estimates 600 civilians have been killed in the past week or so.

"That's largely due to the indiscriminate bombing or bombardment that, that the Russians conduct. That number is probably higher, quite honestly."

🧵The U.S. today approved its largest military aid package for Ukraine to date. It will include $1 billion in weapons and ammunition from U.S. stocks, Undersecretary for Defense Colin Kahl said. "President Biden directed the 18th drawdown of an additional $1 billion in weapons and equipment from the Department of Defense inventories. This is the largest single drawdown of US arms and equipment utilizing this authority to date."

🧵Senior U.S. Military official on Day 142 of Russia's war in Ukraine:
"We assess that Russian forces are limited to incremental, if any, gains around the northern Donbas, held off by Ukrainian defense. "Russian forces continue to [do] indiscriminately bombardment along with their missile strikes."

🧵State Department officials speak on U.S. efforts to support Ukraine through its ongoing war with Russia in a @CSIS event now. @CSIS "The UN Human Rights Office has said on Tuesday that more than 5,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24., and they said in their press statements that the real toll was likely much higher."

🧵Senior U.S. Defense Official briefing:
Ukrainian armed forces are conducting a "managed retrograde" from Sievierodonetsk today. "Russians are just eking out inch by inch of territory here. So in moving the Ukrainian Armed Forces from separate zone back, what they are doing is putting themselves in a position where they can better defend themselves."

🧵Senate Foreign Relations committee discusses Finland and Sweden's application for NATO membership ahead of the alliance's summit next week in Madrid. "While NATO has not yet formally prepared the accession protocols for Finland and Sweden, we expect it will very soon. There is tremendous urgency and a strong case for inviting these countries. Expansion of NATO requires unanimous agreement by all NATO member states, of course."

🧵NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg previews NATO's Madrid Summit at Politico event.

"President Putin's war against Ukraine is the most urgent threat we face. It has shattered peace in Europe. At the same time, we must not forget all the other challenges to our security." "Moscow and Beijing are openly contesting the rules based international order. Terrorism and nuclear proliferation persists, and cyber attacks and climate disruptions are on the rise. All of this affects our security."

🧵Senior U.S. defense official briefing on $1 billion military aid package for Ukraine.
"With this announcement, the United States has now committed over $5.6 billion dollars in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia began its unprovoked and brutal invasion back on Feb. 24." The U.S. does not currently have the vehicle-mounted Harpoon launchers included in the package, so they will be purchased for Ukraine rather than coming from U.S. stocks.

"This really is a testament to the great ideas that industry has been providing us through the RFI process."