Prime Minister Sanchez Says Spain Will Send Military Hardware To Ukraine

Illustration of troops in the middle of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/Mstyslav Chernov)

JAKARTA - Spain will supply Ukraine with 'offensive military hardware', following Russia's invasion of its pro-Western neighbor, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told parliament on Wednesday.

"I want to announce to you that Spain will also send offensive military hardware to the Ukrainian resistance," PM Sanchez told Parliament, citing CNA from AFP on March 2.

Until now, Spain had said it would send military support only as part of a broader package unveiled by the European Union last week, in which Brussels agreed to unblock 450 million euros ($500 million) for member states to buy weapons for Ukraine.

PM Sanchez said Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine "was a brutal attempt to stop the building of a European space based on values that radically contradict the authoritarianism he represents".

The announcement came a day after Spain said it would send an additional 150 troops to Latvia, as part of the creation of the wider North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the Baltic region.

It is known that Spain itself previously had 350 troops in the alliance's enhanced front presence battle group in Latvia.

Apart from Spain, the United States, Canada and more than a dozen other European countries have so far responded to Ukraine's requests for military equipment.