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Spain will send old leopard tanks to Ukraine. Photo/Reuters
MOSCOW – Spain will donate up to 20 Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks to Ukraine, adding to the ten tanks delivered last year. Spain has an inventory of more than 100 vehicles produced in the late 1980s.
This news was first reported by ABC Spain media, after Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez chaired a high-level meeting with executives of national defense contractors.
Last year, Sanchez authorized the donation of ten German-designed tanks to Kiev despite objections from Podemos, his left-wing party's junior coalition partner at the time.
The new shipment will be taken from storage, where it has been stored for the past decade, and refurbished at a factory in Seville before being moved to Kiev, ABC said. The report did not give a specific timeline, but said deliveries would take place in the coming months.
A list of Spain's previous military aid to Ukraine was revealed by Trade Minister Xiana Mendez earlier this week. Local media estimated the value of the weapons at €133 million (USD145 million). The list includes items ranging from night vision goggles to ten Leopard tanks, delivered by the Ministry of Defense between March 2022 and the end of February this year.
Forbes notes that new armor donations are anticipated, considering that as of 2022 Spain has more than 100 vintage Leopard 2A4 units acquired from excess German stock in 1998. Santa Barbara Sistemas, a manufacturer that operates a plant in Seville, has produced more armored vehicles steel. of 200 newer 2E version Leopard tanks.
Coupled with 14 additional Leopard 2A4 tanks promised by Germany and the Netherlands, Spain's donation will allow Kiev's 33rd Mechanized Brigade to replenish its fleet eroded by battlefield losses and damage, the magazine said.
Moscow has warned that any Western military aid Ukraine receives cannot change the outcome of the conflict. It views the hostilities as part of a US-led proxy war against Russia and states that it will not compromise its national security goals.
“For us (the Ukrainian conflict) is a matter of life and death; for them it is a matter of improving their tactical position (globally and in Europe),” President Vladimir Putin said in an interview last week.
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