Spain will send Ukraine a batch of missiles for the Patriot air defense system

Spain, in response to pressure from the European Union and NATO allies, decided to send Ukraine a batch of missiles for Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems to strengthen Ukrainian air defense. This was stated in a newspaper publication on Friday El Pais.

As Russian air attacks on Ukraine intensify, European governments have been called on to send more defense systems to Kyiv. First of all, this applied to countries that have such systems in their arsenals, in particular Spain and Greece.

As the Spanish newspaper El Pais writes, citing government sources, we are talking about supplying Kyiv with a limited number of missiles, taking into account the fact that the cost of each is more than 1 million euros.

In total, the Spanish armed forces have about 50 such missiles and three Patriot air defense systems themselves, purchased from Germany in 2004 and 2014. One of them is located in Turkey on the border with Syria, and the other two are in the Spanish province of Valencia. The Spanish Ministry of Defense as a whole categorically refused to supply the Patriot air defense systems themselves to Ukraine, recalling that they are the only effective means of repelling missile attacks. The department also pointed out that the Spanish armed forces are insufficiently staffed.

In addition, Madrid is now preparing a new package of military assistance to Kyiv, which should arrive by the end of June. It includes 10 of the 19 Spanish Leopard 2 A4 tanks that are still being repaired at Spanish military bases.