NEW YORK, April 27. /TASS/. The White House has admitted that it may provide Ukraine with more Patriot air and missile defense systems if they can be unlocked from their current deployment sites, including in the Middle East, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.

"The US Patriot systems right now are being deployed around the world, including in the Middle East to protect US troops. If we can unlock further American Patriot batteries, we would send them. But in the meantime, what we’re going to do is work with European partners and partners in other parts of the world to get them to provide additional air defense capability to Ukraine," he said in an interview with the MSNBC television company.

Sullivan added that the United States had doubled artillery production and "will double it again by the end of this year," in order to help Ukraine as well.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Friday after another meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group that the West would attempt to send additional Patriot systems to Ukraine, but "it's left to be seen." He also cautioned against "making Patriot the silver bullet.".