WEBVTT

00:00:00.180 --> 00:00:03.240
The situation began to develop as it did. I

00:00:03.250 --> 00:00:07.078
directed my national security team to monitor closely and report

00:00:07.089 --> 00:00:10.769
to me. Hour by hour, I instructed them

00:00:10.778 --> 00:00:14.189
to prepare for a range of scenarios. I also

00:00:14.198 --> 00:00:19.129
convened our key allies on a on a Zoom call

00:00:19.138 --> 00:00:21.408
to make sure we're all on the same page.

00:00:21.589 --> 00:00:25.250
It's critical that we are coordinated in our response and

00:00:25.260 --> 00:00:28.929
coordinated in what we to anticipate. We agree.

00:00:28.940 --> 00:00:30.728
They agreed with me that we had to make sure

00:00:30.739 --> 00:00:33.918
we gave Putin no excuse me emphasize. We gave

00:00:33.929 --> 00:00:37.149
Putin no excuse to blame this on the West or

00:00:37.158 --> 00:00:40.579
to blame this on NATO. We made clear that

00:00:40.590 --> 00:00:43.060
we were not involved. We had nothing to do

00:00:43.069 --> 00:00:45.700
with it. This was part of a struggle within

00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:48.889
the Russian system. I also talked at length of

00:00:48.899 --> 00:00:51.368
President Zelinsky of Ukraine. I'll be keeping in contact

00:00:51.380 --> 00:00:53.310
with him. I may be speaking him later today

00:00:53.319 --> 00:00:55.918
or early tomorrow morning to make sure we continue to

00:00:55.929 --> 00:00:58.929
remain on the same page. I told him that

00:00:58.939 --> 00:01:00.908
no matter what happened in Russia, we say it

00:01:00.918 --> 00:01:03.500
again, no matter what happened in Russia, we

00:01:03.510 --> 00:01:07.260
, the United States will continue to support Ukraine's defense

00:01:07.489 --> 00:01:11.129
and its sovereignty and its territorial integrity. He and

00:01:11.138 --> 00:01:15.019
I agreed to follow up and stay in constant contact

00:01:15.138 --> 00:01:17.879
. I'm also in constant contact with our allies to

00:01:17.888 --> 00:01:19.808
maintain our coordination. I'll be speaking with the head

00:01:19.819 --> 00:01:23.849
of state right after this meeting today and making sure

00:01:23.859 --> 00:01:26.549
we're on the same page. I didn't get a

00:01:26.558 --> 00:01:29.120
chance to speak with one head of state yesterday.

00:01:29.709 --> 00:01:32.049
We're going to keep assessing the fallout of this weekend's

00:01:32.058 --> 00:01:34.930
events and the implications for Russia and Ukraine. But

00:01:34.939 --> 00:01:38.519
it's still too early to reach a definitive conclusion about

00:01:38.528 --> 00:01:42.349
where this is going. The ultimate outcome of all

00:01:42.359 --> 00:01:45.500
this remains to be seen. But no matter what

00:01:45.510 --> 00:01:48.209
comes next, I will keep making sure that our

00:01:48.219 --> 00:01:52.049
allies and our partners are closely aligned in how we

00:01:52.058 --> 00:01:53.980
are reading and responding to the situation. It's important

00:01:53.989 --> 00:01:57.209
we stay completely coordinated.