The President of the Central Government, Pedro Sánchez, had a new conversation yesterday with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he reiterated Spain’s “firm support”, which will be maintained “as long as necessary” to deal with to the invasion of Russia, and in which he took the opportunity to announce that during this year the country will deliver to Ukraine “new capabilities” to deal with this aggression.
In a message posted on the X social network, the Spanish Prime Minister recalled that the war started by Russia has been going on for more than two years, but he assured that Spain and Ukraine are working “together” for a “just and lasting” peace and that “respects the essential principles of the Charter of the United Nations”, including those of sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
According to the Government, Spain is committed and working with the international community with this goal and yesterday Sánchez guaranteed that the Spanish Executive will support a future peace conference that “must have broad international support”, he pointed out. The two countries are currently negotiating a long-term political security agreement, within the framework of the declaration of support for Ukraine issued by the G-7 countries in Vilnius in July 2023 and endorsed by Spain.
According to Government sources, during the conversation between the two presidents, President Zelenski thanked Spain for its support to Ukraine, both bilaterally and within the framework of the European Union, while President Sánchez conveyed his condemnation for Russian attacks on the civilian population.
Among the aid promised by the President of the Spanish Government is the delivery of Leopard tanks, as La Vanguardia reported last week. These are nineteen Leopard 2A4 combat tanks of the Land Army, which will have to be finished at the Santa Bárbara Sistemas factory, in Alcalá de Guadaíra (Seville). It is planned to be delivered in two shipments: ten battle tanks before the end of June and the other nine in September.
The sending of this new armament contingent is the result of the meeting that Sánchez, accompanied by the Minister of Defense Margarita Robles, held in Moncloa last week with the main companies in the defense sector in Spain, in which the president explored the possible contribution of the Spanish industry in view of the risk of a sudden imbalance in favor of Russia in the course of the war.
Sánchez’s conversation with Zelenski comes on a new day of massive bombings by Russia on Ukrainian territory in response to the attack in Moscow on Friday, claimed by the Islamic State and which caused at least 137 deaths and 150 wounded, a attack carried out by a group of Islamists who, according to Vladimir Putin himself, had the intention of fleeing to Ukrainian territory after the attack.