Portugal to send 5 military vehicles to Ukraine

Portugal will send five armored rescue and medical vehicles to Ukraine,  Portuguese Defense Minister Helena Carreiras said at a meeting of the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany on April 21.  

The vehicle delivery will consist of three M113 and two M577 armored personal carriers.

Providing the armored vehicles fulfills a promise by Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa made back in February that the Portuguese government would commit to supplying the Ukrainian Armed forces with several battle tanks and other military vehicles.

Portugal earlier delivered three German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine on March 27.

The 11th Ukraine Defense Contact Group summit at the Ramstein air base in Germany took place on April 21. The summit is part of a series of summits held among U.S. allies to coordinate efforts to provide military aid to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

During the summit, Canada announced a $28 million defense aid package, a coalition of countries that have delivered or pledged tanks to Ukraine met and signed a letter of intent to open a maintenance hub for Leopard 2 battle tanks in Poland, and Latvia said it would hand over to Ukraine all Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems from its arsenal.