LUGANSK, August 24. /TASS/. The US has cut back on deliveries of Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine due to fears that its proprietary technology could be resold to third countries, military expert Vitaly Kiselyov said in an interview with TASS.

Earlier, The Economist reported that the growing shortage of interceptor missiles for the US Patriot air defense systems is causing panic in Ukraine and other countries that rely on this type of weaponry.

"The technology used by the Patriot system is proprietary. The Americans are well aware that, if it falls into Ukrainian hands, it could also end up in third countries, because a huge number of weapons is flowing through Ukraine to both the Middle East and the African continent, where they have interests today (US interests - TASS)," he said.

Kiselyov suggested that by reducing Patriot missile deliveries, the US is trying to "stockpile them for itself," amid the conflict in the Middle East, which also requires "significant US resources."

Earlier, Kiselyov told TASS that Kiev’s shortage of air defense systems is caused by the Russian army’s precision strikes on their storage sites. As the military expert noted, Russian forces have also intensified strikes on assembly and storage sites for Flamingo missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in recent months.