Spain ready to deliver anti-aircraft missiles and Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine | The Spanish Army will train the Ukrainian military in Latvia and on national territory in the handling of tanks in their fight against the Russian invasion. [Spanish, translation in comments]

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  1. **Translation:**

    Spain is ready to make a qualitative leap in its military support to Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion, according to government sources. If up to now it had delivered ammunition, individual protection equipment and light weapons (C-90 rocket launchers or machine guns), now it is preparing the supply of heavy weaponry, with anti-aircraft missiles and Leopard battle tanks, and the essential training of the Ukrainian military so that they can operate them.

    The Ministry of Defense is already finalizing the delivery to Kiev of a battery of Shorad Aspide anti-aircraft missiles, which the Spanish Army has replaced with a more advanced system. The shipment of this material, produced by the European missile company MBDA, is pending the conclusion of negotiations through a cell in Stuttgart (Germany) which is in charge of coordinating military aid to Ukraine in order to avoid shortages of some equipment and duplication of others.

    The Spanish government is also willing to hand over to Ukraine the Leopard 2 A4 battle tanks that have been lying dormant for a decade at the Army’s logistic base in Zaragoza. These tanks are part of the batch of 108 second-hand units that Germany sold to Spain in 1995, as a lead-up to the Leopard manufacturing contract in Spain. The intention of Defense was to reconvert them into recovery tanks for engineers but, due to the lack of budget, it opted to subject them to a dehumidification process (removing batteries, oils and any other element that could deteriorate them) and leave them in storage awaiting the availability of future funds. Defense sources estimate that some 40 tanks could be rehabilitated and delivered to the Ukrainian Army, but warn that this would require them to undergo an overhaul by an industry that is reluctant to undertake such work at a time when orders are pouring in due to the general increase in military spending in Europe.

    In addition, Spain has offered Ukraine to train its military in the handling of these tanks. The training, according to the cited sources, would be initially carried out in Latvia, where the Spanish Army has deployed a contingent of 500 soldiers with six Leopard 2E tanks, in the framework of NATO’s operation Enhanced Forward Presence (EFP). In a second phase, the training of the Ukrainian tankers would be carried out on Spanish territory, the same sources add. This program would make it possible to accelerate the preparation plans of the Kiev Army to equip itself with powerful tanks with which to confront the modern Russian T-90s, as currently there is only a training center in Germany.

    The offer of the missiles and the instruction of the tank drivers was raised when the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, traveled to Kiev last April 21 and met with President Volodymir Zelenski, but it has been delayed due to the complexity of the operation, according to the sources. That same day the Army ship Ysabel sailed from El Ferrol loaded with 200 tons of ammunition and carriers for missiles. It also carried 30 trucks and ten light vehicles that traveled 800 kilometers on Polish roads to take the material to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s receiving base. That shipment was, in Sanchez’s words, “more than double” the material sent so far in 11 military transport flights. On the occasion of this week’s visit to Madrid of Igor Zovkva, Zelenski’s advisor, talks have been relaunched to speed up the delivery and expand the list of possible supplies.

    At a press conference last Friday, on the occasion of 100 days since the beginning of the invasion, the Ukrainian ambassador in Madrid, Serhii Pohoreltsev, thanked the military aid provided so far by Spain but considered it insufficient, warning that the ammunition is only enough “for two hours of combat”. “We are grateful but we cannot say that we are satisfied,” he stressed.

    The diplomatic representative of Kiev asked for heavy weapons (anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, 155-millimeter howitzers or 120-millimeter mortars), but above all he demanded the delivery of Leopard tanks, even before instructing the Ukrainian military who are to use them. “There is goodwill from the Spanish government and the Ministry of Defense about sending instructors to teach the operation of these tanks, but the important thing is the tanks,” he stressed. The ambassador insisted that his country is not asking for “anything that Spain cannot provide” and complained that, according to his reports, Spain presents “one of the lowest rates of military aid [to Ukraine] in relation to its Defense budget.”

    The diplomat framed his request in the new phase of prolonged war and of attrition into which the conflict has entered, with the occupation of 20% of its territory by Russian troops and the destruction of 30% of its infrastructure. And he assured that the Spanish Government has shown “unquestionable support” for the cause of Kiev and has not sensed any “pro-Russian sympathies”, despite the criticisms of the ministers of Unidas Podemos regarding the delivery of military material to Ukraine.
    What the diplomat did not object to was the reception in Spain of the 140,000 Ukrainians (women, children and elderly) who have arrived fleeing the war, of whom 116,000 have already obtained international protection status. “The process has been well organized,” he acknowledged.

  4. get ready for tons of articles and posts shitting on Spain for not being able to deliver these tanks in a week, this is gonna take some time before they are actually fighting

  11. These tanks are in really bad condition and not working currently. It will take months to make them operational. Still a good thing if true.

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