April 27, 2024
Madrid will provide Ukraine with Patriot anti-aircraft missiles, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles announced on April 26 at the Ramstein-format summit.
Her confirmation follows media reports emerged saying Spain would send “a limited number” of such missiles, as the country only has around 50 total in reserve. Robles did not say how many of the systems Madrid will deliver.
The move is among the latest from Western nations responding to calls from Kyiv for more air defenses in the face of escalating Russian missile and drone attacks on cities across Ukraine.
The minister said that “a set” of Patriot anti-aircraft interceptor missiles will arrive at the logistics base in four days.
Along with the Patriot missiles, Spain pledged to send Ukraine additional equipment in the coming months, including machine guns, vehicles, field artillery howitzers, 155 mm and 120 mm shells, anti-drone equipment, and Leopard tanks, according to the ministry.
U.S.-made Patriots are highly effective at intercepting Russia’s ballistic and cruise missiles. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine needs 25 Patriots to protect the country from Russian attacks, but Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he is for now focused on securing seven to protect Ukraine’s largest cities.
Germany said on April 13 that it would provide Ukraine with one more Patriot air defense system, bringing the total number of Patriots supplied by Germany to three.
But hopes that Greece would follow suit were dashed on April 25 when Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said his country would not supply Ukraine with Patriots or S-300 missiles.
Kyiv is also pushing Washington for the joint production of Patriot air defense systems, Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova said in an interview with European Pravda on April 23.
https://kyivindependent.com/spain-confirms-ukraine-to-receive-patriot
This is good … after all.
First, they will, then they won’t, now they will.
Europe is a three-ring-circus.
The situation with Ukraine’s desperate need for more air defense systems has once again shown how disunited, disorganized, wish-washy, and wobbly Europe really is. Nobody needs air defense at this time, nor will they ever need them for as long as Ukraine is in the fight. For instance, I doubt that Spain will get attacked by a North African country anytime soon.
Instead of doing everything in their power to secure Ukraine’s fighting ability, and hence, their own safety, they stumble through one stage of the war to the next, more like drunkards in a maze. When a new problem crops up, it should be expected that the Europeans would find a solution quickly and get things done quickly to alleviate it. Instead, weeks and months of wheeling and dealing can pass before a half-assed measure is agreed on, or each country goes its own way. This is so pathetic, seeing the grave danger EVERYONE is in or will be in if Ukraine should fall.
in view of the consequences of the division within an American political party of one and the same country – we can understand, that for Europe, which is not a federation, which is a conglomerate of different peoples, where visions of things are multiplied, decisions are more difficult to make. It suited a lot of people that Europe was only a divided market but it shows its limits in crisis management…
Moreover, for Ukraine, when we get into the details of things, for example Western aviation, and air defense, the fight against drones or missiles, nothing is simple.
It’s easy to say nothing is easy, although this is true. But, when a giant, brutal war is being fought right at your very doorstep, wouldn’t it be wise to get things moving a little faster and with more determination?
we may regret it but we make do with what exists. the larger and more heterogeneous the group, the greater the inertia…
the EU is growing, being built, evolving, thanks to/in adversity, in having to manage new constraints…. covid, Ukraini…
we are coming out of an era of extreme unbridled globalization, where we have our medicines produced by those who want to subjugate or destroy us… we are coming a long way 😉
after the Ukrainians, those who have the most to lose from this war are the Europeans… and I think they know it…
“the larger and more heterogeneous the group, the greater the inertia…”
Right, but it’s still obvious that the largest part of the continent still hasn’t grasped the urgency of the situation.