Spain will support Ukraine “as long as necessary” after Trump withdraws military aid

Eduardo González The Spanish government said on Tuesday that it will “support Ukraine as long as necessary” to achieve a “fair and lasting peace” and will not “deviate from that path” following the decision by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, to order the immediate suspension of all military aid to this country. Trump made this decision after harshly criticising the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, for his alleged lack of gratitude towards the financial and military support provided by the United States during the conflict and after stating that the Ukrainian president “is not ready for peace”. At the press conference after the Council of Ministers, the Government spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, expressed her “maximum respect for President Zelensky, because he is not only defending the sovereignty and freedom of Ukraine, but he is also defending European values”. She also assured, in response to a question about Trump's decision, that Spain, "as a country and as a government," will "support Ukraine for as long as necessary." "From the first moment we are working to achieve a fair and lasting peace for Ukraine and, of course, we are not going to deviate from that path," she added. The suspension ordered by Trump covers all weapons not yet delivered to Ukraine, including radar systems, vehicles, ammunition and missiles. In addition, the US administration is also considering lifting some sanctions imposed on Russia as part of an effort to improve relations between the two countries. For his part, Zelensky has recognized the difficulty of maintaining international support without the active participation of the United States. In response to this situation, the European Union is evaluating measures to strengthen its support for Ukraine and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has immediately announced a plan to increase defense spending, which could reach up to 800 billion euros. This effort seeks to provide Member States with greater fiscal capacity for defence investments and offer loans worth 150 billion euros for these purposes. In this regard, Pilar Alegría assured that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will propose during the extraordinary European Council this Thursday a series of measures to increase military investment in defence, including the use of “joint debt, that the credits that have not been used from the funds can also be used for security and defence, the flexibility of fiscal rules, a proactive participation of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the attraction of private investments.” “It is a debate that is currently open in the European Commission, it will be substantiated in the European Council and these are the proposals that the President of the Government will defend and that, logically, he will later explain to all the parliamentary forces,” she added. Albares, Sumar and PP The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, held a telematic meeting on Tuesday with the members of the group supporting Ukraine (G5+) to “help jointly chart the path towards a fair and lasting peace in Ukraine,” as he announced through social networks. “Spain supports the Ukrainian people and government,” he added. The G5+ is made up of the foreign ministers of Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom. For her part, the second vice-president of the Government and leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, declared on TVE on Tuesday that “the time has come for Europe to have an autonomous position in terms of defence, that is, completely sovereign in terms of defence policy, foreign relations and industrial policy, independent and not subordinated to the United States.” In any case, the spokesperson for En Comú and member of the Sumar party, Gerardo Pisarello, declared in a press conference that Von der Leyen's plan would be a "very big mistake" because it would lead Europe into a "warlike race" and would make Europe "even more dependent" on the American arms industry. For this reason, he urged the EU to opt for "diplomacy and the defence of peace throughout the world." The secretary general of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, declared to the press that, “obviously, nothing of what Trump is doing at this moment or is proposing in relation to defending Ukraine and the Ukrainians can be shared.” “Defending Ukraine is defending Europe, defending democracy and defending our values and our principles,” she added.

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