The Diplomat
A ship with military and humanitarian material, including the four Leopard 2A4 battle tanks committed by the Government, left yesterday from the port of Santander bound for Ukraine via Poland.
The four Leopard will be added to the six Leopard 2 of the same characteristics that were already delivered to the Ukrainian government, according to the Ministry of Defense in a press release. The shipment also includes ten TOAs M-113 armored vehicles (three of them for the Border Guard), ten Navy trucks (five of which will be delivered to the Border Guard and five to the Armed Forces), one armored multipurpose vehicle (for the Border Guard), three civilian ambulances and one BMR armored ambulance (which will go to various military hospitals), as well as one armored civilian ambulance (for the Border Guard). According to the Ministry, all the equipment is expected to be delivered to the Ukrainian Armed Forces in early August. In addition, a field hospital arrived in Poland on Monday.
The shipment of the tanks, the armored vehicles and the field hospital had been announced by the President of the Government (currently in office), Pedro Sánchez, during his visit to Kyiv on July 1, during which he inaugurated the recently inaugurated Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU.
In the Ukrainian capital, Pedro Sánchez announced during a press conference with President Volodomir Zelenski that Spain would send to Ukraine another four Leopard combat tanks, which would join the other six tanks that were delivered to Ukraine after Easter and which the head of the Executive himself had announced during his previous visit to Kyiv, last February. Two days later, the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, informed that the four Leopard 2A4 tanks that remained to be delivered to this country had already been repaired and were about to leave for Poland to join Ukraine in a few weeks.
During his visit to Kyiv, Sánchez also reported the delivery of more armored personnel carriers and a field hospital with surgical capabilities that “should improve the capacity” of the country “to treat the wounded close to the front line”.
Robles visits the Ukrainian military in Toledo
On the other hand, Margarita Robles visited yesterday the Infantry Academy of Toledo to the 44 Ukrainian military personnel who are being trained in the fight against improvised explosive devices (C-IED) and demining. The training of these personnel, which will end next August 3, is being coordinated by the Toledo Training Coordination Centre (TTCC) and is part of the European Union Military Assistance Mission in Support of Ukraine (EUMAM UA).
During the visit, according to the Ministry, Robles reiterated Spain’s “absolute commitment” to Ukraine and its cause, “which is that of peace, freedom and international legality”, and affirmed that the Ukrainian soldiers, after their passage through the Infantry Academy, “will become part of the great family of the Spanish Armed Forces”.
The acting Minister of Defense also congratulated the Spanish military for the training they provide. “This course is essential in the moment that is being lived in Ukraine of counter-offensive, as a consequence of the actions of the Russian Army and, above all, because of the enormous quantity of mines that are on the ground”, she declared. “An important part of the wounded we have in Spain have been as a result of mine explosions, that is why we believe it is very important that they receive the maximum training from our Spanish military specialists, who are magnificent professionals,” she added.
