Spain will send US-made Patriot air defense missile systems to Ukraine, which has asked for more military equipment to resist Russian attacks, Defense Minister Margarita Robles said Friday.
Madrid will supply “a set of long-range Patriot anti-aircraft interceptor missiles,” Robles told a ministerial meeting of the so-called contact group for the defense of Ukraine, the defense ministry said in a statement.
It did not specify how many missiles Spain would provide.
This month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told NATO members that his country needed at least seven Patriot or other high-end air defense systems to counter Russian air strikes, urging them to step up their military assistance for Kyiv.
European Union foreign and defense ministers vowed at a meeting on Monday to maintain their aid to Ukraine but without committing to the delivery of air defense equipment.
Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares avoided answering repeated questions about whether Madrid would send Patriot units to Ukraine.
