美国国家公共电台 NPR--U.S. to send Ukraine more air defense systems after Russia stepped up missile attacks

U.S. to send Ukraine more air defense¹ systems after Russia stepped up missile attacks

Transcript²

NPR's A Martinez talks to John Kirby, White House national security coordinator³ for Strategic Communications, about the Russian bombardments, and expedited U.S. shipments of weapons and equipment.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

The mayor of Kyiv says that Russia fired drones packed with explosives at the center of Ukraine's capital again today. Officials say at least three people were killed. Volodymyr Gryston (ph) was at a train station in central Kyiv when he spotted⁴ one of the drones overhead.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

VOLODYMYR GRYSTON: (Non-English language spoken).

MARTINEZ: Gryston says police fired at the drone with assault rifles when it suddenly turned toward them, and they ran underground. The deadly days-long Russian bombardment has knocked out power and water supplies in several cities. In response, the White House is speeding up shipments of air defense systems to Ukraine, part of an additional authorization⁶ of $725 million in arms and equipment for Ukraine. Now John Kirby is with us. He is the White House national security coordinator for strategic communications. Admiral, Russia is expected to hold its annual nuclear forces drills soon. And this year, it feels a lot more ominous⁷ considering Vladimir Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons. What will the U.S. be looking for to ensure that this isn't something more than just drills?

JOHN KIRBY: Well, we're certainly going to be monitoring this exercise, as we do every year, A. This is an exercise that the Russians perform annually⁸ to test and evaluate their strategic nuclear capabilities⁹. And again, we'll watch it as closely as we can. Everything we have seen to date tells us that this is an exercise that will be conducted normally, within the bounds of the way Russia has done it in the past. And we do expect that, as a part of this exercise, they'll be moving some of these strategic assets around. But again, we see no indication that either this exercise or in other contexts President Putin has decided¹⁰ to move forward with the use of a nuclear weapon or weapon of mass destruction inside Ukraine.

MARTINEZ: Let's just remember - the last time Russia was running drills, that was right before they invaded Ukraine. So I think maybe that worries a lot of people, Admiral.

KIRBY: Yeah. No. Look; I understand that. And that's why I said we're going to be watching this exercise as close as we can. But the indications we have now are that this will be conducted within the normal bounds, very similar to exercises that they have had - that they had last year. I would like to just - the exercises we saw last year in advance of the invasion were not just these nuclear exercises. There were other, more conventional exercises, too, that did, you know, prepare their forces for the ultimate invasion.

MARTINEZ: How would the U.S. deter¹¹ a dangerous nuclear power from further escalation¹²? How would that work?

KIRBY: Well, there's a variety of means that we would use to try to deter that use. We have already made it very clear publicly and privately¹³ to the Russians that should they move forward with a weapon of mass destruction or a nuclear weapon of whatever size, that there would be severe consequences for Russia, for the Kremlin. And of course, there would be consequences across the region. Again, we're watching this very, very closely. We have seen nothing that would cause us to change our strategic deterrent¹⁴ posture¹⁵. And a change in our posture would be another way of trying to help deter such use. But again, we've just not seen any indication that that decision has been taken or that they're even preparing for the possibility of that sort of a decision.

MARTINEZ: I know Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, keeps calling for more sanctions and more weapons, specifically long-range Patriot¹⁶ missiles. Is that something, Admiral, that the U.S. is prepared at any point to say yes to?

KIRBY: I don't want to get ahead of decisions that we haven't made yet with respect to capabilities to Ukraine. As you said just before we started talking, last week, we announced yet another package of security assistance, our 23rd. This brings to more than $17 billion, the kinds of security assistance that we've given to Ukraine just in the military front alone since the invasion. And that's significant. We're going to continue to do that. And we are doing it in lockstep with the Ukrainians, A. We talk to them almost every day about what their needs are.

As you heard when President Biden spoke⁵ to President Zelenskyy last week, he promised that we would continue to provide air defense capabilities to Ukraine. And we will do that. We've been doing it, quite frankly¹⁷, since the very beginning of the war when we were starting to send Stinger missiles, and ultimately ended up - over 1,400 of them were provided to Ukraine, as well as helping¹⁸ them acquire an S-300 system and other long-range defense systems. In fact, just last week, Secretary Austin was in Brussels meeting with the contact group for Ukraine, 50-some-odd nations. And nations like Germany and Spain have agreed to now pony¹⁹ up various levels of air defense capabilities to the Ukrainians that they'll be able to use in relatively²⁰ short fashion.

MARTINEZ: And is the Biden administration still committed to sending aid to Ukraine for as long as Russia is attacking or occupying Ukraine?

KIRBY: President Biden has been crystal clear. We're going to continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.

MARTINEZ: And one last thing, Admiral. OPEC's decision to cut oil production seems to be a clear signal to the White House on where the Middle East stands in this conflicts. How will the U.S. respond to that?

KIRBY: The president wants to take a look at what his options are. You heard him say there will be consequences, and there will be. He wants to review this bilateral²¹ relationship and make sure that it's actually performing in the best interest of the American people and our national security. So he wants a wide-ranging, comprehensive review. He wants to include members of Congress in that. Again, I won't get ahead of the president's thinking, but he'll be presented options to consider.

MARTINEZ: White House national security coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby, thanks a lot.

KIRBY: Thank you.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

4 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

7 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

8 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

9 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

12 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句

13 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

14 deterrent   

n.阻碍物，制止物；adj.威慑的，遏制的

参考例句：

• Large fines act as a deterrent to motorists.高额罚款是对开车的人的制约。
• I put a net over my strawberries as a deterrent to the birds.我在草莓上罩了网，免得鸟歇上去。

15 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
• He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣，摆出一副打架的架势。

16 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。

17 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

18 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

19 pony   

adj.小型的；n.小马

参考例句：

• His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
• They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。

20 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

21 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。