SSpain does not exclude the supply of tanks and anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine. “Our solidarity is total,” Secretary of Defense Margarita Robles told Telecinco on Monday. The newspaper El País previously reported that Spain was ready to hand over up to 40 Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks to Ukraine. The report also mentions Aspide anti-aircraft missiles. “We stand in solidarity with Ukraine, within the scope of our possibilities and in coordination with the other countries within the EU and the Atlantic Alliance,” said the minister.
Should the tanks be delivered, the federal government would have to agree. In Berlin it was said on Monday that they had no own information as to whether Spain was planning such a delivery of Leopard 2 tanks. So far, the federal government has refused to provide battle tanks for Ukraine. For Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the criterion for determining which military equipment is delivered to Kyiv is the joint approach with partners, above all with America.
In 1995, Spain bought a total of 108 Leopard 2A4s from Germany, of which a good half are currently in use. A delivery would take time, however, because the available tanks would first have to be overhauled and prepared for use. In addition, Ukrainian soldiers would have to be trained, which could happen first in Latvia and later in Spain, according to “El País”.
In Madrid, where the NATO summit is taking place at the end of June, they are counting on solidarity with their western partners and at the same time do not want to unnecessarily provoke Russian President Vladimir Putin. This is an “absolutely sensitive matter in which we have to proceed very calmly and, above all, with maximum discretion,” said the Spanish defense minister on Monday. So far, Spain has only sent ammunition, C90 rocket launchers, light machine guns, helmets and protective gear to Ukraine. The Ukrainian ambassador in Madrid said a few days ago that the ammunition provided by Spain was only enough “for two hours of fighting”. Spanish instructors are helpful, “but the most important thing is the tanks.”