Spain highlights European support for Ukraine as Russian attacks leave more civilian casualties

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Kyiv as a show of continuing support from Madrid and the EU for Ukraine’s fight to dislodge invading Russian forces

At a news conference with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, Sanchez announced Spain would deliver more weaponry to Ukraine including four Leopard tanks

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, right, and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday. Photo: Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFP

Published: 12:38am, 2 Jul 2023Updated: 2:20am, 2 Jul 2023

Ukrainian officials reported more civilian casualties from Russian shelling in the country’s east and south on Saturday, as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez began a visit to Kyiv as a show of continuing support from Madrid and the European Union for Ukraine’s fight to dislodge invading Russian forces.

In an address to Ukraine’s parliament that received several standing ovations, Sánchez said: “We’ll be with you as long as it takes.”

“I am here to express the firm determination of the European [Union] and Europe against the illegal and unjustified Russian aggression to Ukraine,” he said on the day that Spain took over the six-month rotating presidency of the 27-nation EU.

At a later news conference with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Sanchez announced Spain would deliver more heavy weaponry to Ukraine including four Leopard tanks and armoured personnel carriers, as well as a portable field hospital.

He also said Spain will provide an additional €55 million (US$60 million) to help with reconstruction needs.

Ukrainian soldiers repair a Leopard 2 tank in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Spain on Saturday pledged more heavy weaponry to Ukraine including four Leopard tanks. Photo: AP

Elsewhere in Ukraine, regional officials reported that at least three civilians were killed and 17 wounded by Russian shelling on Friday and overnight in the front-line eastern Donetsk region, where fierce battles are raging, Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.