"There are countries that have Patriots, and so what we're doing is continuing to engage those countries," Austin told a House Armed Services Committee hearing.
According to AFP, Austin has already spoken with the leaders of several countries in the last two weeks, encouraging them to give up more capability or provide more capability. However, he did not specify what those countries were.
Various European Union countries possess the systems, including Spain, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told NATO members earlier this month that his country "needed a minimum of seven additional Patriot or other high-end air defense systems to counter Russian air strikes, urging them to step up their military assistance for Kyiv," as cited by the AFP News Agency.
SOURCE: AFP
(aj)