Conflicts & War

Spanish PM pledges 200 tons of military aid during Ukraine visit

Kyiv, Apr 21 (EFE).- Spain will deliver an additional 200 tons of military equipment to Ukraine, prime minister Pedro Sánchez announced during a visit to Kyiv on Thursday, where he met Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Sánchez, who was visiting along with Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen, told a Kyiv press conference that his visit was a gesture of support for Ukraine as well as a demonstration of Spain’s firm condemnation of Russia’s “unfair and unjustifiable” war.

He announced that the Spanish naval vessel, the Isabel, had left Spain Thursday en route to Poland to deliver 200 tons of modern ammunition and other military equipment to Ukraine in a move that more than doubled Madrid’s military contributions to Kyiv since Russia invaded in late February.

“The ship carries 30 trucks, several special heavy transport vehicles and 10 smaller vehicles with the military material that will be transferred to Ukraine,” the PM said.

Sánchez, who earlier Thursday visited Borodyanka, a town near the Belarus border that came under intense Russian bombardment and was the scene of mass killings of civilians, according to Kyiv, added that “atrocities committed in Ukraine could not go unpunished.”

“For this reason, Spain is going to immediately respond to the request for support made by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute those responsible for committing war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity in Ukraine,” he said, adding that Spain would send a team of experts to work with the ICC and carry out fieldwork.

Around 137,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Spain since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, Sánchez said. EFE

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