The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, inaugurated this Saturday the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union in Kyiv, where he brought a message of encouragement and confidence in the face of Russian aggression. Sánchez, who was visiting the country for the third time, this time as president of the community club, gave a speech in the Ukrainian Parliament, before meeting with the country’s president, Volodímir Zelenski.
There, Sánchez reaffirmed Spain’s and Europe’s commitment to Ukraine: “We are and will be with you for as long as it takes. We will support Ukraine regardless of the price to pay, ”he guaranteed. And he appreciated the fact that today the country is “in the middle of the counteroffensive against an enemy that shows signs of weakness”, in reference to what happened last week with the revolt of the mercenaries of the Wagner Group: “It speaks for itself “, said. Sánchez was convinced that Ukraine will win the war because “it is not afraid” and, even if it takes months and “blood spilled”, it will win because this conflict is also “a battle of ideas” that “Ukraine has already won because it has chosen the freedom and openness against those who only believe in strength and arrogance, and have dreams of ancient empires”.
The Spanish president encouraged Ukraine to continue carrying out the reforms that will allow it to enter the EU and accompanied these words with announcements of military and economic aid, in particular another four Leopard tanks -in total Spain will allocate ten-, armored personnel carriers and a field hospital with surgical capacity. In addition, Spain will dedicate another 55 million euros to help finance small and medium-sized enterprises in Ukraine and four million euros for the United Nations Development Program to improve the country’s schools.
In the press conference after the meeting between the two presidents, Sánchez heard from Zelenski his most pressing concerns, such as his desire to join NATO, which the Spanish president solved with a proposal for the next meeting of the Alliance in Vilnius: strengthen their political participation through the creation of a NATO-Ukraine Council with which the country “will no longer be a guest, but a member by right,” he stressed. Zelensky called for increasing international pressure for Russia to abandon the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and expressed frustration that Western allies have pledged to train Ukrainian pilots in the use of F-16 fighters – the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, USA and Portugal – “are delaying” the instruction. And with them victory would be closer.
