- Spain is sending a limited number of Patriot missiles to Ukraine, El Pais reported.
- However, just sending launchers for the system won’t be enough.
- This follows Ukraine’s urgent appeal to NATO for more air defense systems.
Spain will send a small number of Patriot missiles to Ukraine as pressure mounts from NATO and EU allies to increase aid to the country, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported, citing sources anonymous government agencies.
“The transfer of a small number of missiles comes after the Defense Ministry refused to hand over to Ukraine the battery it has deployed since 2013 on the Turkish-Syrian border,” the report said.
“It will be a very limited number, because the Spanish war reserve is around 50 units and the interceptors are very expensive,” the statement added.
The Spanish Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
This comes after German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius criticized Spain and Greece for not sending their Patriot systems to Ukraine.
“Let’s say if a country has, for example, six or four Patriot systems and it is not on the front line in the east, it can easily give up a Patriot system,” he said during a television appearance earlier this week, the Telegraph reported. .
Asked if this was aimed at Spain and Greece, he added: “We’re talking to them right now. Honestly, I don’t understand.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an urgent appeal to NATO states earlier this month, saying Ukraine needs “seven additional Patriots or similar air defense systems” to defend its cities against Russian strikes.
“Putin must be brought back to earth and our skies must become safe again,” Zelensky said. “It depends entirely on your choice… (the) choice as to whether we are indeed allies.”
On April 21, Zelensky added on X: “‘Patriots’ can only be called air defense systems if they work and save lives rather than standing still somewhere in storage bases.”
Spain, however, has decided not to send any of its Patriot system launchers to Ukraine, reports the daily El Pais.
It currently has three Patriot systems, all purchased in Germany in 2004 and 2014, the report added.
The news comes as Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece would not be able to offer Ukraine air defense systems such as the Patriot or the S-300 developed by the Soviet Union.
“Greece has supported Ukraine in various ways, including through defense means,” he said.
“However, from the outset we have stated that we cannot provide defense systems that are crucial to our deterrence capabilities,” he added.
Germany pledged to deliver one of its Patriot systems to Ukraine following a phone call between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Zelensky in April, during which the Ukrainian president described “the attacks massive Russian air strikes against civilian energy infrastructure.
“We stand unwaveringly with Ukraine,” Scholz wrote in a post on X announcing the decision.
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