The USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group is heading to the Indo-Pacific area of operations after completing its mission in U.S. Central Command, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said today.
The United States still maintains the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group in the region as well as destroyers, a Marine Expeditionary Unit, F-22 Raptor aircraft and more, Ryder said.
“As we have been since the beginning of the crisis in the Middle East, following Hamas’ vicious Oct. 7 attacks, we remain intensely focused on working with regional partners to de-escalate tensions and deter a wider regional conflict,” the general said. “The United States also remains very focused on securing a cease-fire as part of a hostage deal to bring all of the hostages home and to end the war in Gaza.”
On Ukraine, Ryder said U.S. policy on the use of long-range American weapons has not changed. “We’ve worked with the Ukrainians to ensure that they have the ability to conduct cross-border counterfire — defensive strikes — to defend their troops that are being attacked from across the border in Russia,” Ryder said. “We are very, very much focused … on ensuring that Ukraine has what it needs to be able to preserve its sovereignty and take back occupied territory. That’s going to continue to be our focus.”
The United States wants to see Ukraine win its conflict with Russia. President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of a sovereign country against all international laws and norms. As President Joe Biden has said, if Russia were to win its war on Ukraine, Putin would not stop with Ukraine.
“The bottom line is, we want to see Ukraine win in this conflict,” Ryder said. “When … Ukraine feels that it is time to go to the negotiating table, we want them to do so with as strong a hand as possible.”
Ryder noted that Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said last week at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, that there is no one system or weapon that will change the calculus in the Russian war of aggression. “There is no silver bullet that is going to enable Ukraine to succeed,” Ryder said. “It is about taking all of the capabilities that they have and employing them in a way that gets them closer to success and having that stronger hand at the negotiating table.”
