On May 20, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended a 3-hour hearing before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, discussing many issues, including the situation in Ukraine. He said that arms aid programs that were committed to Kiev are still being carried out.
However, when asked about the possibility that the Trump administration would approve new military aid packages at Ukraine's request, Mr. Rubio said that everything is still being considered by the National Assembly.
Mr. Rubio emphasized that Ukraine currently needs patriot missile defense systems especially, but admitted that the US is not capable of supplying them because the production speed cannot keep up.
The US Secretary of State said Washington is working with NATO allies in Europe to find supplies, but these countries are not willing to abandon their patriot air defense systems.
One of the major challenges is the rate of patriot missile consumption in Ukraine, which is far exceeding the production capacity of both the US and the West, Mr. Rubio said.
Finally, Mr. Rubio admitted that the conflict in Ukraine cannot be resolved by military means and needs to go to peace negotiations.
Previously, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for US support for additional air defense systems. He said Kiev was ready to buy or rent up to 10 patriot complexes, with a total cost of about 15 billion USD, and was asking European allies for financial support for this plan.
According to data from the International Strategic Research Institute (IISS), there are currently about 186 patriot systems operating globally, of which the US owns about a third. Many complexes have been deployed by Washington to strategic regions such as Europe, Asia and the Middle East to protect allies. There are currently about 40 systems in Europe, with Germany and Greece accounting for about 15 combinations.
Due to their scarce nature and strategic role, patriot systems are often only allocated after careful consideration based on the priority of each conflict hot spot.
