KUALA LUMPUR, July 10. /TASS/. The Washington administration plans to persuade certain US allies to hand over some of their Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

"One of the things that the Ukrainians need is more Patriot batteries," Rubio told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. "Hopefully, we will be able to convince some of our NATO partners to provide those Patriot batteries to Ukraine, because there are a number of countries that have them, but no one wants to part with what they have. So perhaps that will change," he said, adding that Germany and Spain were among such countries.

"If, in fact, Ukraine is a priority that so many countries in Europe say it is they should be willing to share the batteries that right now they don’t have the need to use," Rubio added.

"There are other opportunities. I mean countries that have ordered Patriot batteries and that are about to receive shipments of them. It would be great if one of them volunteered to defer that shipment and send it to Ukraine instead," the US secretary of state said.

"So we are looking for creative ways to provide them with these defensive weapons that they would need. That’s not going to help them with the drone attacks, that’s a very different technique that you use to bring those down. But it would help them with some of those missile attacks that we are seeing. Again, these are defensive weapons," Rubio said.

Patriot deliveries to Kiev

US President Donald Trump said on July 9 that the United States will consider sending an additional Patriot system to the Kiev government. At the same time, he added that this piece of military equipment was quite expensive.

On July 2, The New York Times reported that the United States would pause shipments of Patriot interceptor missiles, GMLRS (Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System) precision-guided weapons, Hellfire guided missiles, Stinger man-portable air defense systems, and other arms to Kiev. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry then summoned US Charge d’Affaires John Ginkel to discuss these reports. Zelensky noted earlier that Europe cannot fully substitute US weapons supplies.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump stated on July 3 that Washington continues to support Kiev militarily, but emphasized that the US must also prioritize its own defense needs.

On July 7, the US leader said that the United States must send more weapons to Ukraine, "defensive weapons primarily." Politico reported that deliveries of some US weapons to Ukraine could resume following meetings between the two countries’ high-profile officials in Rome and Kiev this week and next.