The King stresses Spain’s “firm resolve to support Ukraine in its quest for peace”

The Diplomat The work of the Armed Forces to alleviate the effects of the drought that devastated several towns in the Valencian Community and Castilla-La Mancha was the focus of the speech that King Felipe VI addressed yesterday to the military gathered at the Royal Palace in Madrid on the occasion of the celebration of the Military Easter. The King, in the uniform of captain general of the Army, described the work of the 8,500 soldiers of the three Armies and the Military Emergency Unit (UME) who were displaced to the affected area as “the largest military operation, especially logistical, in national territory and in peacetime”. And he encouraged the military to continue working because “there is a long road ahead” in the reconstruction of the area. Previously, the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, stressed in her speech that “the priority for 2025 is the total support to the reconstruction” of the affected areas. Margarita Robles insisted that the military “will be in Valencia as long as necessary”, and recalled that with their work they have given a “lesson of dedication, joint work and humility of not wanting to feel protagonists”. “Our Armed Forces always respond with a single voice, firm and clear, to the call to defend our security, integrity and freedom; And this is so because they are made up of noble, capable, committed men and women, who make service to Spain and to the Spanish people a vocation and a reason for life”, added the King, who also made a complete review of the missions carried out by the Armed Forces abroad, starting with the contingent deployed to Lebanon which, ‘in a framework of great tension such as the one being experienced in the Middle East, continues to carry out the tasks set out in United Nations Resolution 1701’. Nor did he forget the “more than 2,500 members of our Armed Forces who participate in NATO's deterrence and defense missions in Eastern Europe”, in Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Turkey and Romania, or “the Navy ships that make up NATO's permanent naval groupings in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic”. There was, of course, special mention of Spain's support for Ukraine through the bilateral security and defense agreement, “which guarantees the training of Ukrainian military personnel on Spanish soil and support for improvements in military equipment and the defense industry”. In this regard, the King assured that “the support of Spain and the European Union to Ukraine reflects an absolute commitment to safeguarding international peace and security. We will continue to work on the development of bilateral mechanisms within the framework of the EU and NATO, with the firm purpose of supporting Ukraine in its quest for peace.” Don Felipe and Doña Letizia accompanied by the Princess of Asturias -who in less than 48 hours will embark as a midshipman on the training ship Juan Sebastián Elcano- yesterday presided over the traditional celebration of the Military Easter, whose origin dates back to the reign of Charles III. On January 6, 1782, after recovering the Menorcan town of Mahon, which was in the hands of the English, Charles III ordered the viceroys, captains general, governors and military commanders to gather the garrisons on the feast of the Epiphany and notify the chiefs and officers of the armies of his congratulations on his behalf. The celebration of the Military Easter is a solemn military act with which the military year begins. In this act, a balance of the vicissitudes of the previous year is made and the lines of action to be developed in the following year are marked. In addition, military decorations are awarded to those civilians and members of the Armed Forces who have received them during the past year.

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