Madrid (TDI): Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced that Spain will provide Ukraine with a new military aid package worth €615 million ($710 million) to support its fight against Russia’s invasion.
While speaking at a news conference in Madrid alongside visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, Sanchez said that around €300 million of the package will go toward “new defense equipment.”
He stressed solidarity with Ukraine, saying, “Your fight is ours,” and accused Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “neo-imperialism” of aiming to weaken the European project and its values.
The aid package also allocates €215 million for the production of anti-drone systems, surveillance radars, and aerial reconnaissance equipment, which will be mostly produced by Spanish companies.
An additional €100 million will go toward a NATO-led initiative supplying Ukraine with air defense systems under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), through which European allies and Canada are purchasing U.S. weapons to assist Kyiv.
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These efforts are supported through the European Union’s new Security Action for Europe (SAFE) defense fund, aimed at enhancing Europe’s own security capabilities.
The Spanish announcement comes after Zelensky signed an agreement in Paris with France for a total of 100 Rafale fighter jets and other military equipment, including drones.
Sánchez and Zelensky visited Madrid’s Reina Sofía Museum to view Pablo Picasso’s anti-war masterpiece Guernica, which the Spanish leader referred to as a “universal symbol of barbarity.”
The picture depicts the bombing of the Basque village of Guernica by Nazi forces supporting General Francisco Franco on April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, which killed over 1,600 people and injured others.
Zelensky had previously compared the 1937 bombardment of Guernica to Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian cities after the invasion in February 2022.
Zelensky is also set to visit Turkyie to engage in renewed peace discussions with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US envoy Steve Witkoff.
Minahil Khurshid holds a master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from CIPS, NUST. She has a strong interest in current affairs, geopolitics, and policy analysis.
