Two days. That was how long it took the Ministry of Defense since Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, attacked Ukraine, to coordinate everything to make a first shipment of material. Were 20 tons of humanitarian material that left from the Torrejón Air Base with its final destination to the recently invaded country. Since then, Spain has shown its generosity on numerous occasions, maintaining a permanent contact between Defense authorities to cover both material and training needs. And the new arms package that Pedro Sánchez and Volodimir Zelensky agreed upon after their meeting in Granada is a new sign that Spain’s commitment remains intact despite the fact that the governments of other countries such as Poland or Slovakia have suspended the shipment of weapons.
The Ukrainian president arrived in Spain early in the morning amidst tight security measures. A delegation of 15 vehicles took him from the airport to the surroundings of the Alhambra, where the summit is being held. There, Zelensky held a meeting with Pedro Sánchez that was also not on the president’s agenda, but from which the Ukrainian left very satisfied.
“We have discussed the new military aid package, which includes air defense, artillery and anti-drone systems,” Zelensky specified on his social networks. However, beyond this announcement by the Ukrainian, the Spanish Government has offered little information. Because silence has become the norm when it comes to talking about the material sent to Ukraine. There is no public list of what was sent in the Ministry of Defense, contrary to what other countries such as Germany do, and they do not respond to the various questions from EL MUNDO about what type of weapons Zelensky refers to in his tweet.
It is known that the anti-aircraft defense system committed by Sánchez after this last meeting are six Hawks launchers in addition to the other six that the Ministry of Robles had already donated. It is a surface-to-air missile from the 60s which Spain barely uses anymore. These will be dedicated to protecting the granary corridor to release Ukrainian grain. The decision to send more artillery is not new either, since Spain has been throughout the conflict sending ammo packsfrom bullets for rifles to the 155 howitzer, which had been out of use in our country for years.
What is new is that they commit anti-drone systems, since it is the first time that Spain and Ukraine talk about it. The Ministry of National Defense has in its warehouses the Cervus, a weapon to destroy nationally manufactured drones deployed by the Army in European missions in Mali and also in Latvia. But the Government approved a tender months ago to buy more of these weapons.