Rubio: Hegseth may have blocked Patriot missile deliveries to Ukraine for U.S. defense reasons

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not rule out that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth had indeed withheld approval for the transfer of Patriot air defense missiles to Kyiv from third countries.

Rubio made the statement while speaking with journalists in India, where he is on an official visit.

According to the secretary of state, such decisions are made taking into account the defense needs of the United States itself and its allies.

“It very well could be, because these questions are always considered in the context of whether they are needed somewhere else or whether they should remain in Europe. We have bases in Europe. Our partners do too,” Rubio said.

The secretary of state also dismissed the notion that this amounted to a deliberate attempt to harm Ukraine.

“There was no political directive to go out and harm Ukraine. That is simply not true,” he added.

The day before, media outlets reported that Hegseth was holding up the transfer to Ukraine of a large batch of Patriot missiles. Earlier, CNN reported that Ukraine had exhausted its stockpile of interceptor missiles for Patriot air defense systems.