(MENAFN) Reports have emerged indicating that Spain is set to donate a further 20 mothballed Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks to Ukraine, adding to the ten tanks dispatched last year. The decision comes as Spain seeks to bolster Ukraine's defense capabilities amid ongoing tensions with Russia. The news was initially reported by Spanish outlet ABC following a high-profile meeting chaired by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez with executives of national defense contractors.
Despite objections from its left-wing party junior coalition partner Podemos last year, Prime Minister Sanchez authorized the donation of ten German-designed tanks to Kiev. Now, the additional tanks will be drawn from Spain's stockpile of over 100 vehicles manufactured in the late 1980s, which have been kept in storage for the past decade. These tanks will undergo refurbishment at a factory in Seville before being transferred to Ukraine, although no specific timeline for the deliveries was provided, ABC reported.
Secretary of State for Trade Xiana Mendez recently revealed a list of previous Spanish military aid to Ukraine, with the value of the armaments estimated at EUR133 million (USD145 million).
This aid included a range of items from night vision goggles to the ten Leopard tanks dispatched between March 2022 and the end of February this year. Forbes noted that the anticipated donation of additional armor aligns with Spain's surplus stock of vintage Leopard 2A4s acquired from Germany in 1998, as well as the production capacity of Santa Barbara Sistemas, the manufacturer operating the plant in Seville.
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