Ground-based air defense systems are currently the most necessary type of weapon for Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said on Friday.

"We all believe that what Ukraine needs most urgently is ground-based air defense capability," Austin said in response to a question about whether the participants in the meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine discussed the possibility of supplying it with fighter jets.

He also said, in his opinion, the parties supporting Ukraine can do more in this area.

Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, also said at a press conference that "now the most important thing is to ensure the reliability of air defense" of Ukraine, to ensure that anti-aircraft systems can hit targets at different heights.

"The task is to control the airspace. How to control the airspace, it can be made in many different ways. Now the most cost-efficient and fastest way for Ukraine is air defense," Milley said.