Spain will provide Ukraine with missiles for the Patriot air defense system.

The Spanish publication El Pais reported on this.

The newspaper’s government sources claim that the decision was made amid pressure from NATO and the European Union.

At the same time, the number of anti-aircraft missiles that Ukraine will receive will be very limited, as the Spanish reserve is about 50 units, and the missiles themselves are expensive.

The decision was made after the Spanish Ministry of Defense refused to hand over the Patriot air defense system, which has been deployed since 2013 on the border of Turkey and Syria.

The Spanish Armed Forces currently have three Patriot air defense systems, which were purchased from Germany in 2004 and 2014.

One of these systems is located in the Turkish city of Adana. Two more are at the Marine Corps base in Valencia. One of them is used for training Ukrainian and Spanish military.

In October last year, the United States had agreed to sell to Spain four Patriot Configuration-3+ Modernized Fire Units and anti-aircraft missiles. The estimated total cost is $2.8 billion.

It is worth noting that Spain was the first country to transfer MIM-23 Hawk air defense systems to Ukraine in 2022.

Strengthening of the Ukrainian air defense

At the beginning of April, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba shared that following the discussion, Germany, as the leader of the Air Defense Coalition, would look for Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine not only within NATO but also around the world.

Subsequently, Germany announced the immediate transfer of another Patriot air defense system to Ukraine due to increased Russian missile attacks.

This will be the third Patriot air defense system that Ukraine will receive from Germany as part of military aid.