Spanish Foreign Minister answers question on possible supply of Patriot to Ukraine

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has commented on the possibility of providing Ukraine with a Patriot air defence system which is in service in Spain.

According to Spanish digital newspaper El Periódico de Catalunya, when Albares was asked whether Madrid was considering supplying Kyiv with the Patriot system, he avoided a direct answer, noting that Spain "will continue to do everything in its power" to help Ukraine in its war against Russia.

"Spain has already provided air defence assets in the past, and, of course, it will continue to do everything in its power to help the Ukrainians defend their freedom, their democracy and all those innocent civilians who are dying every day under [Russian] bombardment," Albares said.

At the same time, he stressed that he "never liked to give too many explanations of what is given, when and where."

The Financial Times noted that Greece and Spain were under intense pressure from their EU and NATO allies to provide Ukraine with additional air defence systems.

The leaders of the countries, whose armed forces have more than a dozen Patriot systems in addition to others such as S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems, have been told that their needs were not as great as Ukraine's and that they faced no immediate threat.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday that he expected new air defence commitments "to be announced shortly" but did not provide any details on the countries or weapons.

The German Foreign and Defence Ministers announced a global initiative to find additional air defence assets for Ukraine in a letter to dozens of countries.

Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Ukraine had identified 100 air defence systems in allied countries and was asking for at least seven of them to be transferred to protect Ukrainian cities.