Pedro Sánchez announces a new shipment of tanks after meeting with Zelenski on the eve of the first anniversary of the war

"We are going to help you, dear Volodimir, in everything we can."

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, wanted to mark his visit this Thursday to Kiev, on the eve of the anniversary of the great Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the announcement that Spain intends to send up to a total of 10 Leopard tanks , one of the most demanded tools by the Ukrainian government so that the local army can face the Kremlin troops.

"Our intention is, over the next few weeks and months, to see if we can scale to a total of 10, that is, to go from 6 to 10", he said at a press conference after meeting with his counterpart, Volodimir Zelensky.

There are four more tanks than those announced on Wednesday by Defense Minister Margarita Robles.

The Spanish president has not closed the door on the supply of combat aircraft,

as requested by the Ukrainian president.

“You have to study it and talk about it” with the partners of the European Union and NATO, he pointed out.

The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, during his speech this Thursday before the Ukrainian Parliament. Borja Puig de la Bellacasa (EFE/Pool Moncloa)

Sánchez and Zelenski say goodbye after their meeting in kyiv, this Thursday.Ukrainian Presidential Press Office (AP)

Zelenski shows Sánchez the plaque in his name on the Paseo de los Valientes in kyiv, this Thursday.Ukrainian Presidential Press Office (AP)

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez (left), after meeting this Thursday with the President of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenski, in Kiev, this Thursday.Ukrainian Presidential Press Office (AP)

"I have seen the effects of war and I have only had one thought: the international world based on rules was built precisely to avoid the images that I have seen today", said the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, at the beginning of his speech at the joint press conference with Zelenski in Kiev.Luis De Vega

Pedro Sánchez and Volodímir Zelensk, at one point during the meeting.

Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa (EFE)

Pedro Sánchez makes a floral offering to the fallen in the war during his visit to the Irpin neighborhood in Bucha. Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa (EFE)

Pedro Sánchez visits the Irpin neighborhood in Bucha.

A strong explosion was heard this Thursday in the western part of the city of kyiv, according to the Ukrainian outlet The Kyiv Independent.

Minutes before the detonation, air alerts had been activated throughout the city, which have been sounding for almost an hour.Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa (EFE)

Pedro Sánchez, in the city of Irpin (northwest of kyiv) this Thursday.

In the image, the President of the Spanish Government looks at the drawing by the British urban artist Banksy of a gymnast with a neck brace, painted over a hole caused by a shell in a local building, a symbol of the Ukrainian resistance.Luis de Vega

Pedro Sánchez, in the city of Irpin this Thursday.

Together with Sánchez, the work of Banksy can be appreciated.Luis de Vega

Pedro Sánchez, accompanied by the mayor of Irpin, Oleksandr Markushin, has visited some of the areas devastated by the Russian bombing.

Luis Vega

Assisted by the parish priest and local authorities from Bucha, the Spanish president visited a photographic exhibition explaining the horrors experienced by this town located to the north of Kiev, which became known once the Kremlin troops withdrew.Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa (EFE)

Sánchez's first stop after arriving in Ukraine was the church of San Andrés, in the town of Bucha, near Kiev, where one of the mass graves for the dozens of civilians killed during the month the town was occupied was located. by Russian troops, at the beginning of the invasion.

Luis De Vega Hernandez

Sánchez (center), makes a floral offering to the fallen in the war during his visit to Bucha.

It is Sánchez's second visit to Ukraine, after the one he made in April last year, and it takes place on the eve of the first anniversary of the Russian invasion, which will take place next morning.

Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa (EFE)

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, upon his arrival in kyiv this Thursday.

The Spanish leader has reported his arrival in the Ukrainian capital with a message on Twitter stating that Spain will support the invaded country "until peace returns to Europe." MONCLOA (MONCLOA)

During that appearance, Sánchez stressed that military support from Spain —and in general from allies— is the best way to deal with the “illegal invasion” of a sovereign country launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The president has insisted, under the watchful eye of Zelenski, on the need to recover Ukraine's “territorial integrity”.

The arms shipment is a "legitimate fight" to "defend Ukraine, not to attack Russia," he added.

In addition, Spain, according to Sánchez, hopes to be able to promote Ukraine's rapprochement with the EU during his turn at the head of the rotating presidency, which he will occupy in the second half of this year.

Pedro Sánchez, in Irpin with the mayor, @markushyn.

Irpin was the last point the Russians failed to get past in their attempt to take kyiv.

Video @Ldevega pic.twitter.com/UwdyIIQGr6

— Luis de Vega (@Ldevega) February 23, 2023

When asked if he feels pressured to negotiate in the face of a war that seems increasingly entrenched, Zelenski wanted to make it clear: "There is no point in putting pressure on us."

“If Ukraine falls, [later] other countries will follow” in Europe, he said.

The Ukrainian president has welcomed the entry of China, Russia's ally, into the equation on which a possible solution to the conflict revolves.

"We would like to meet with China," Zelenski commented, while acknowledging that the diplomacies of both countries are already in contact regarding a peace plan being managed by Beijing, although, he acknowledges, it is "early" and he does not yet have all the details of that initiative.

"Ukraine is going to win", Sánchez predicted, and for this Spain will support Kiev "as much as necessary" and will never recognize the Ukrainian territories that Moscow's troops keep occupied, basically the Crimean peninsula and parts of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kharkov, Zaporizhia and Kherson, all in the eastern and southern arc of the country.

Spain also does not give any kind of validity to the "illegal annexation" referendums that Russia organized in those provinces last September, according to Sánchez.

"You are not alone in this war," he stressed.

Sánchez's visit, who arrived in the morning by train from Poland and plans to return by the same route in the late afternoon, takes place at a time when the eyes of the world are on the first anniversary of the military invasion of large scale of Ukraine by Russia, which began at dawn on February 24, 2022. Sánchez was preceded this week by the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni.

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenski, this Thursday in Kiev.Luis De Vega

Sánchez has chosen English for the press conference, to bring his message closer to the kyiv authorities.

Of course, he has responded in Spanish to the two questions that the Spanish reporters present at the Marinski palace, in the presidential complex, where the meeting between the two presidents and the subsequent appearance took place.

At the moment when a Spanish journalist asked a question, Zelenski, laughing, stopped the press conference for a few seconds because the simultaneous translation was failing.

The presence of the Spanish president in the Ukrainian capital has been preparing for weeks and corresponds to an invitation from the Ukrainian leader, according to sources from La Moncloa.

Hours before that appearance, Sánchez's first stop after arriving at the Kiev central station was the church of San Andrés, in the nearby town of Bucha, where one of the mass graves for the dozens of civilians killed during the month was located. in which the town was occupied by Russian troops, at the beginning of the invasion.

Assisted by the parish priest and local authorities, the president visited a photographic exhibition that explains the horrors experienced by this town located north of Kiev, which became known once the Kremlin troops withdrew.

It was then that the hundreds of corpses of people who had died over weeks of occupation and siege could be seen.

Next, Sánchez went to neighboring Irpin, also the scene of important battles and the last point,

at the gates of the capital, from which the Russian troops could not pass.

"We are here to show Putin that Ukraine resists," said the president in this town.

In the afternoon, Sánchez addressed the Ukrainian Parliament, the Rada.

There he has defended Ukraine's "dream" of accessing the EU as Spain did in its day.

He has highlighted "the dignity of a people that fights for what belongs to it", a "cry for freedom" that distinguishes it from the enemy.

But, at the same time, he has warned that there are those who are aligning themselves with Putin's imperialist theses in the shadow of necessity.

“Many countries are suffering the global economic consequences of the war and are sometimes inclined to buy into Putin's anti-Western propaganda.

We cannot allow it, ”he warned.

The president ended his speech wishing to return to a peaceful Ukraine and said goodbye with the most chanted expression in these times of war: "Slava

!"

(Long live Ukraine!).

Zelenski shows Sánchez the plaque in his name on the Paseo de los Valientes in kyiv, this Thursday.AP

Five European mini-tours

The President of the Spanish Government reinforces with this trip the forceful message of support for Ukraine that he already launched on April 21, during his first visit to kyiv.

Sánchez is in full diplomatic offensive with five European mini-tours to prepare the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU, which begins in July and will have the war in Ukraine as one of its central issues.

Last week, during the first of these trips, Sánchez already explained to the journalists who were accompanying him that he is even confident that the war can end this year, and for this reason, when the Spanish presidency arrives, he will multiply diplomatic efforts to try to facilitate that ending.

I return to Kyiv a year after the start of the war.

We will stand by Ukraine and its people until peace returns to Europe.

Сьогодні повертаюся до Києва.

Ми будемо з Україною та її народом, poki до Європи не повернеться мир.

pic.twitter.com/9ekUL9Lmfl

— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) February 23, 2023

Sánchez's support for Zelenski is resounding, like that of the other European leaders, and this trip to kyiv is one more example.

However, Sánchez has also already begun to talk about peace.

Two weeks ago, when Zelenski went to Brussels as a guest of the European Council, Sánchez already suggested that work must be done on the 10-point peace plan presented by the Ukrainian president, but above all to try to broaden international support for this plan.

The head of the Spanish Executive is especially concerned about the fact that what he defines as "Russian propaganda", that is, the message that the European sanctions are to blame for the increase in food prices and the scarcity to a large extent of the planet, is entering important areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America, and this is distancing many countries from the European positions of resounding support for Ukraine.

That is why he wants to work to get more support for Zelensky's peace plan around the world, not just in the EU, where he already has close support.

Pedro Sánchez and Volodímir Zelenski greet each other this Thursday in Kiev.Luis De Vega

Sánchez has an internal problem with the supply of weapons and now tanks to Ukraine.

A part of the Government, the two Podemos ministers, have openly rejected the shipment of arms.

The other three ministers of United We Can, with Yolanda Díaz at the head, have not criticized him, although they do not have the same position as the PSOE.

This discrepancy is well accepted within the coalition and is resolved by Sánchez with a clear message that he gave in the Council of Ministers: foreign and defense policy corresponds to the majority party ―it is in the hands of two socialist ministers― and he directs it .

Sánchez's visit to Ukraine does not cause internal problems, but the shipment of weapons does.

The president of the United Podemos parliamentary group, Jaume Asens, welcomed the president's trip to kyiv.

"It seems good to me, it seems to me that it was important for the Ukrainians to feel the solidarity of the Spanish people, a brave gesture and we defend it", he has valued in the corridors of Congress.

Regarding the shipment of Leopard tanks announced on Wednesday, the deputy reiterated the position of his party: "More dialogue, more negotiation, more diplomacy and less war and less tanks are needed," reports Paula Chouza

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