Spain may provide Ukraine with 10 Leopard 2 tanks

Spain will consider supplying Ukraine with four more Leopard 2 A4 tanks in addition to the six ones already promised by the government, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Feb. 23. The decision will be made "in the coming weeks," he added.

The first group of Ukrainian troops is already being trained on the use of Leopard 2 tanks in Spain, Sanchez said during a joint press conference with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

According to Sanchez, Spain aims to "synchronize the delivery of the Leopards with the finalization of the training."

"Ukraine has never posed any threat to Russia, we are helping a country that is defending its people that were attacked," emphasized the prime minister. "We must understand that Putin violates all fundamental laws, violates the territorial integrity of Ukraine; therefore, this struggle is absolutely legal, it must receive our joint assistance."

Sanchez arrived in Kyiv on Feb. 23, the eve of the one-year anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion. This is his second visit to Ukraine since Moscow started its all-out war against the country.

The day before, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles confirmed that Spain would transfer six renovated Leopard 2 A4 main battle tanks to Ukraine, according to El Pais.

Spain is part of a coalition including Germany, Poland, Norway, and Canada that has promised to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine. The US and the UK have also pledged tanks.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell made an appeal on Feb. 15 to the countries with modern tanks that are "just standing and covered with dust" to send them to Ukraine as fast as possible as the spring and summer of 2023 would be decisive for the outcome of Russia's war against Ukraine.

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The Kyiv Independent