US working with NATO to send more Patriots to Ukraine - State Secretary
Photo: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (flickr.com)
The United States has not stopped supplying weapons to Ukraine. The United States is also cooperating with NATO countries on this issue, according to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio was asked whether the administration of US President Donald Trump was ready to pass an additional bill on military aid to Ukraine. The Secretary of State replied that it was not his decision.
He said that everything that was previously approved by Congress to help Ukraine continues.
"In fact, to the extent that Ukraine has asked for anything additional, what they have asked for was air defenses, Patriot units, which frankly we don't have, but we are working closely with our NATO allies. There are NATO allies that do have some batteries of Patriot missiles that they could provide or transfer over to the Ukrainians to defend, for example, the airspace of Kyiv and other places," Rubio said.
According to him, the United States supports this idea and is working on it with its partners. At the same time, he said that none of the countries wants to give up their Patriot systems, and that the ones produced by the United States are not enough.
US assistance to Ukraine
In early May, the US State Department sent a notice to Congress about an arms export license to Ukraine. The contract was worth $50 million or more. This announcement was the first arms sale approved by the administration of US President Donald Trump. Since Trump's return to the White House, no new military aid to Ukraine has been announced.
The US State Department has also recently approved a package to provide F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Its cost is $310 million.
In addition, the United States approved the transfer of missiles from Germany to Ukraine, namely over 200 units.
