Austin said the $6 billion pledge demonstrated “America’s enduring commitment to Ukraine’s defense. All equipment is to be ordered from industry, not drawn from US stocks — meaning it could take years for the weapons to arrive in Ukraine.
But he admitted that despite Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s plea for international supply partners to provide seven Patriot systems, the US-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which met virtually today on the second anniversary of its first meeting, did not reach an agreement to satisfied such demand.
“In terms of Patriots, and what they [other nations] might be able to do going forward is left to be seen, but I can tell you that we continue to work on this and in a very earnest manner,” said Austin. “All the countries that have Patriots certainly value that capability, but I think going forward, we’ll be able to, hopefully work with a number of countries to put together additional Patriot capability.”
His comments come after
reports emerged this week that Spain and Greece have both ruled out transferring the Raytheon- and Lockheed Martin-made air defense system to Ukraine, as Kyiv continues to suffer attacks against critical infrastructure.