Blinken: G-20 meeting was ‘marred by Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine’

“Unfortunately, this meeting has again been marred by Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine, deliberate campaign of destruction against civilian targets, and its attack on the core principles of the UN Charter,” Blinken said, according to a copy of his prepared remarks to the G-20 ministers provided to reporters.

BLINKEN AND LAVROV FACEOFF: Before arriving in India, Blinken said he had no plans to meet with Lavrov, who he hadn’t spoken to since before the beginning of the war one year ago.

“It was a pull-aside,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at yesterday’s White House briefing of the roughly 10-minute chat. “They were in the same room at the G-20 in New Delhi, and Secretary Blinken took the opportunity available to make three key points.”

“I told the foreign minister what I and so many others said last week at the United Nations, and what so many G-20 foreign ministers said today: end this war of aggression; engage in meaningful diplomacy that can produce a just and durable peace,” Blinken said at an end-of-the-day press conference.

“I urged Russia to reverse its irresponsible decision, and return to implementing the New START Treaty, which places verifiable limits on the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Russian Federation,” Blinken said. “I told the foreign minister that, no matter what else is happening in the world or in our relationship, the United States will always be ready to engage and act on strategic arms control, just as the United States and the Soviet Union did, even at the height of the Cold War.”

“I also raised the wrongful detention of Paul Whelan, as I have on many previous occasions. The United States has put forward a serious proposal,” he said. “Moscow should accept it.”

ANOTHER WARNING TO CHINA: Blinken did not have any interaction with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, but he reiterated the message that the U.S. has been sending both publicly and privately to Beijing.

“As President Biden made very clear to President Xi going back to the very beginning of the Russian aggression — were China to engage in material, lethal support for Russia’s aggression or were to engage in the systematic evasion of sanctions to help Russia, that would be a serious problem for our countries,” Blinken said.

But Qin did meet with Lavrov on the sidelines of the conference, according to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry. “A high degree of closeness and concurrence of positions on all the issues discussed was stated,” the statement said. “ A unanimous rejection was expressed of attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, to impose unilateral approaches through blackmail and threats, and to oppose the democratization of international relations.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Good Friday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Conrad Hoyt. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP OR READ BACK ISSUES OF DAILY ON DEFENSE

NOTE TO READERS: Daily on Defense will be on spring break the week of March 20 to 24. We’ll return to your inbox and online Monday, March 27.

Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what’s going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue!

HAPPENING TODAY: President Joe Biden meets with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House at 2 p.m. No news conference is planned. About an hour and half has been set for the meeting before Biden decamps to Delaware for the weekend.

“This will be a true working visit between these two leaders,” NSC spokesman John Kirby told reporters yesterday.

“I’m sure the leaders will discuss their recent engagements with Ukrainian officials, including the president’s trip to Kyiv and meeting with President Zelensky, as well as Chancellor Scholz’s meeting with President Zelensky in Paris last month,” Kirby said. “We anticipate that the two leaders will also exchange views on the upcoming NATO summit and other global issues like the challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China.”

The White House also announced that Biden will meet next Friday with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for “another working visit.”

BIDEN TO MEET WITH GERMANY’S SCHOLZ AT WHITE HOUSE IN PRIVATE MEETING

MORE AMMO FOR UKRAINE: With the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut under unrelenting assault from waves of Russian infantry troops, as many as 85 separate attacks in a single day, Ukrainian forces continue to burn through supplies of artillery shells at a prodigious rate.

That would explain this morning’s expected announcement of more munitions drawn from U.S. stocks that will be going to Ukraine. “What you’re going to see … is a focus on munitions, on ammunition, the kinds of things that they need for these long-range artillery, the HIMARS, and for additional systems that they’re using,” Kirby said on CNN. “Right now, they are in a vicious fight in Bakhmut. Standoff range is important for them, being able for long-range fires is important.”

Western officials have estimated that Ukraine is firing some 7,000 artillery shells a day, compared to Russia’s roughly 50,000, and the Pentagon has said the rate of fire exceeds what the U.S. industrial base is capable of producing.

“It is true, we’ve been drawing down on stocks quite a bit. Those inventories have got to be continually replaced,” Kirby said. “The Pentagon is prioritizing that, as you might think, but we are comfortable and confident that with each package, we’re taking a pretty deep look to make sure that we can still defend our national security issues around the world.”

“We continue to see intense fighting near Bakhmut,” spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said at yesterday’s Pentagon briefing. “Russian forces and Wagner mercenaries continue to press their attacks around Bakhmut, and Ukrainian forces continue to hold the line there. It remains a very fluid situation, so we’re continuing to monitor that very closely.”

WHITE HOUSE TO ANNOUNCE NEW AID PACKAGE TO UKRAINE ON FRIDAY

ALSO TODAY, BIDEN PRESENTS MOH TO VIETNAM VET: At 11:30 a.m., in an East Room ceremony, the president will award the Medal of Honor to retired U.S. Army Col. Paris Davis for conspicuous gallantry while serving as commander of Detachment A-321, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, during combat operations in Vietnam, June 17-18, 1965. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin attends. Livestreamed at https://www.defense.gov/News/Live-Events/

‘SORE LOSER SYNDROME’: The fight over moving the headquarters of the U.S. Space Command from its temporary location at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama, has the congressional delegations from both states sniping at each other.

“Political attempts to derail SPACECOM’s move to Alabama are nothing but a case of sore loser syndrome. Those standing in the way are relying on red herring arguments instead of the facts,” tweeted Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL). “Check the scorecard: Huntsville is the #1 spot for @US_SpaceCommand,” he added, posting a chart touting Huntsville’s advantages.

The Air Force picked Alabama as the permanent site for the headquarters during the last months of the Trump administration, and Colorado lawmakers immediately cried foul, suggesting that the decision was influenced by President Donald Trump as a reward for the support from the solidly red state.

In 2021, Trump bragged that he “single-handedly” picked Alabama as the new home for U.S. Space Command, according to a press release from Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO).

But a 2022 Government Accountability Office review of the decision said the Air Force “implemented a revised, three-phased process at the direction of the then Secretary of Defense,” which resulted in the selection of Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville as the preferred location.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The Rundown

Washington Examiner: Biden to meet with Germany’s Scholz at White House in private meeting

Washington Examiner: White House to announce new aid package to Ukraine on Friday

Washington Examiner: US has offered new ‘serious proposal’ to Kremlin for Paul Whelan’s return

Washington Examiner: Two US nationals arrested after giving aviation technology to Russia

Washington Examiner: If planned Ukraine offensive falters, air power advocates will blame Biden for loss

Washington Examiner: Opinion: The truth about Biden’s Ukraine policy

Washington Examiner: Navy helps UK seize anti-tank missile shipment from Iran: CENTCOM

Washington Examiner: DOJ says presidential immunity cannot protect Trump if rhetoric led to violence

Washington Examiner: Biggs and Braun introduce resolution to recognize US debt as national security threat

Washington Examiner: Taiwan military to get more than $600 million US arms boost amid China tension

AP: Russian envoy says nuclear powers may clash over Ukraine

Washington Post: Kremlin Accuses Kyiv Of Violent Attack In Western Russia

New York Times: At U.S. Base in Germany, Ukraine’s Military Conducts War Games

AP: A year into Ukraine war, bodies dug up in once occupied town

Task & Purpose: Trio Of NATO Aircraft Carriers Drill In Mediterranean Sea In Message To Russia

USNI News: High Cost of Taiwan Invasion Will Dissuade China, Pentagon Official Says

Defense One: Commission Looks for Ways to Speed Up Pentagon Budget Process to Keep Pace With China

Military Times: Pentagon Budgeting Panel Says ‘All Options’ On Table For Reform

Bloomberg: Philippine Leader’s Embrace Of U.S. Troops Near Taiwan Revives Old Grievances

Air & Space Forces Magazine: Top Pentagon Official: China’s Air Actions Are ‘Dangerous and Destabilizing’

CNN: South Korea Doesn’t Need Nuclear Weapons To Face The North, Prime Minister Says

19fortyfive.com: B-21 Raider: The Natural Evolution of the U.S. Air Force’s Stealth Bomber Fleet

19fortyfive.com: Is Iran Close To Building a Nuclear Weapon?

19fortyfive.com: New Ukraine Footage Shows Russian Soldiers Huddled in Frozen Crater

19fortyfive.com: New Footage Shows Russia’s Su-25 ‘Flying Tank’ Destroyed in Ukraine

19fortyfive.com: Game Changer: Why Boeing’s ‘Ghost Bat’ Drone Could be F-35 and NGAD Wingman

Stars and Stripes: Republican Senators Challenging Rationale Behind New Pentagon Abortion Policies

Breaking Defense: JPO Directive Orders F-35 Retrofit To Return Grounded Jets To Flight

Air & Space Forces Magazine: Entire F-35 Fleet to Get Fix for Engine Vibration Issue

Air & Space Forces Magazine: ‘We’re Weird’: New Commander Details Life Inside Task Force 99

Calendar

FRIDAY | MARCH 3

11 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW — Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion: “Pressing Challenges to U.S. Army Acquisition,” with Douglas Bush, assistant Army secretary for acquisition, logistics, and technology https://www.csis.org/events/pressing-challenges-us-army-acquisition

12 p.m. — Cato Institute virtual book discussion: “Unreliable Watchdog: The News Media and U.S. Foreign Policy,” with author Ted Galen Carpenter, senior fellow at Cato; George Beebe, director of grand strategy at the Quincy Institute; and Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy studies at Cato https://www.cato.org/events/unreliable-watchdog

1 p.m. — Center for a New American Security virtual discussion: “Army modernization,” with Gen. James Rainey, commander of Army Futures Command; and Douglas Bush, assistant Army secretary for acquisition, logistics, and technology https://www.cnas.org/events/virtual-fireside-chat

TUESDAY | MARCH 7

12 p.m. Stockholm, Sweden — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news

WEDNESDAY | MARCH 8

10 a.m. 216 Hart — Senate Select Committee on Intelligence annual hearing: “Worldwide Threats,” with testimony from heads of U.S. intelligence agencies, including Avril Haines, director of national intelligence; William Burns, director, Central Intelligence Agency; Christopher Wray, director, Federal Bureau of Investigation; Gen. Paul Nakasone, director, National Security Agency; and Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, director, Defense Intelligence Agency https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/hearings

12 p.m. — Association of the U.S. Army’s “Noon Report” webinar on Army’s efforts to reduce harmful behaviors and prevent suicide with James Helis, director of the Army Resilience Directorate, and Chaplain Maj. Gen. Thomas Solhjem, the Army’s chief of chaplains https://info.ausa.org

THURSDAY | MARCH 9

8 a.m. 2043 Rayburn — Amphibious Warship Industrial Base Coalition “Congressional Forum,” with Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger; Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI); Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS); Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI); Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA); and Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) https://amphibiouswarship.org/congressional-forum

THURSDAY | MARCH 23

TBA 2123 Rayburn — House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on TikTok’s consumer privacy and data security practices, the platforms’ impact on kids, and their relationship with the Chinese Communist Party, with testimony from TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew http://energycommerce.house.gov