Ukraine asks Spain for air defences, weapons

MADRID – Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Wednesday he had asked his Spanish counterpart to supply air defences, including F-16 jets, and more ammunition to

fend off Russia’s invasion.

While Western allies, led by the United States, have been supporting Ukraine with military training and weapons, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said still more was needed to help end Europe’s deadliest conflict since WWII.

“For us, the No. 1 priority is air defence,” he told a joint news conference with Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles.

“We are very interested in contemporary airplanes of the new generation. We are interested in F-16 jets,” he said.

“Because for us, destroying Russia’s air dominance is paramount,” he added.

Mr Reznikov also said he had asked for 150mm and 105mm artillery munitions and amphibious vehicles.

Ms Robles said the six Leopard battle tanks Spain had promised Ukraine would be “physically in Ukraine before the end of the month”.

Spain will also send 20 armoured personnel carriers along with them, she added.

Madrid has said it could send an additional four Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, and Ms Robles said on Wednesday that these would be dispatched “as soon as possible”.

Ukraine is expected

to launch an attack on invading Russian troops

in the spring – its first major military push of the year.

Dozens of leaked US documents and slides

have made their way onto social media in recent days with information about Ukraine’s preparations and readiness.

A February 2023 document marked “secret”, seen recently by AFP, said 89 per cent of Ukrainian medium- and high-range air defences was made up of SA-10 and SA-11 Soviet-era systems that could

soon run short of ammunition.

Both ministers denied claims in the leaked documents that Nato troops were on the ground in Ukraine.

“It is not true,” Mr Reznikov said, while Ms Robles called the reports “completely false”. AFP