Eduardo González
The acting Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, confirmed yesterday at NATO headquarters in Brussels and in the presence of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, the sending of military aid to this country, including the missile launchers and ammunition announced by President Pedro Sánchez during the recent European summit in Granada.
Robles took part yesterday in the ministerial meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group and the first session of the meeting of allied defense ministers, which were held at NATO Headquarters in the Belgian capital.
During the ministerial meeting of the Contact Group, the sixteenth to be held in this format (Ramstein) and in which, for the first time, Zelensky participated in person, the acting defense minister detailed the process of transfer to Ukraine of the HAWK anti-aircraft missile launchers announced by President Sánchez and which specifically respond to the most urgent need expressed by the Ukrainian authorities.
“The six new anti-aircraft missile launchers are going to be integrated into a US battery,” announced the minister, who specified, responding to a specific request from the United States, that “the associated training of Ukrainian HAWK operators and maintainers will be provided in Spain as of next month.” Last October 5, Pedro Sánchez made a commitment to Zelensky, during the third meeting of the European Political Community (held in Granada), to send new anti-aircraft and anti-drone systems and new demining equipment to Ukraine.
Robles also informed yesterday about the next delivery of artillery ammunition batches of 155 and 105 mm calibers, in response to the urgent request expressed during the last meeting of the Contact Group, and announced that in a next shipment heavy machine guns will also be sent to reinforce the Ukrainian anti-drone capacity, given that “Russia is still rearming with drones that it gets with the help of other countries”.
She also confirmed that field rations are already on their way to Ukraine, which will be followed by deliveries of electric generators and diving compressors, together with pieces of winter equipment for the fighters, as well as the continuation of training in Toledo and elsewhere, “with more than 2,000 Ukrainians trained and we can reach up to 4,000”.
During the discussion, Zelensky thanked the defense ministers for their support and commitment to helping his country and warned of the need to maintain this effort and increase the contributions of military equipment for as long as necessary until the liberation of his country.
Ministerial meeting
Following the ministerial meeting of the Contact Group, Robles attended the meeting of allied defense ministers with the first NATO-Ukraine Council, where, for the first time, Ukraine was granted a new status to put it on an equal footing for consultations and political discussions with each of the allied countries.
The speeches focused mainly on the interoperability of Ukrainian and Alliance forces, reforms in different sectors of the Ukrainian administration and the Comprehensive Assistance Package (CAP) multi-year support program, the Alliance’s main non-lethal support tool, approved at the NATO Vilnius Summit.
In her speech, Robles assured that, “with the support of our Defense Industries, we will collaborate in the acquisition of equipment for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, with the double objective of helping them in the counteroffensive and guaranteeing their defense and resilience in the future”. She also took advantage of the meeting to hope that Sweden will soon be able to participate as a full member of the Alliance and not as a guest.
In the margins of the meetings, the Minister held a meeting with the Portuguese Minister of Defense, Helena Carreiras, with whom she addressed issues of bilateral interest, among others the handover of the presidency of the 5+5 Defense Initiative (Spain takes over the presidency from Portugal in 2024) and the commitment of both countries in Africa.
