Zelensky in Spain: the ally “who did not close his eyes” but who asks for more effort

After cancellations and complications of various agendas, the president of Ukraine, , lands today in Spain, the last stage in a tour that has also taken him to Greece and France. Above all, it seeks shelter: with Russia redoubling its attacks on essential energy infrastructure at the threshold of winter and no progress in negotiations with Moscow, kyiv urgently needs more allied help. This is what he is going to ask of Madrid.

Zelensky has always publicly applauded the extended hand of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, whom he has described as a “reliable partner.” “He helped us defend our country from day one. Spain did not close its eyes,” he has repeatedly defended. Now, he comes to thank you again and beg for more. In these hours prior to the trip, the Ukrainian president has trusted that the meeting will result in a reinforcement of his country’s air defense. “We have been preparing for a long time and now we can say that the visit to Spain is going to be productive,” he said on Sunday, from Athens.

In this, his third visit since the Russian invasion began (the second official, after May 2024; the third was to attend the 2022 NATO summit), Zelensky will have a tight agenda: he will attend an event in Congress, with the presence of the president of the Lower House, Francina Armengol, and the president of the Senate, Pedro Rollán, and later, around noon, he will meet at the Zarzuela Palace with , with whom he will also have lunch. In the afternoon, he will go to La Moncloa to meet with President Sánchez, with whom he will then hold a joint press conference.

The most symbolic moment of his trip will take place before meeting Sánchez, when Zelenski goes to the Reina Sofía Museum to see the Guernica by Pablo Picasso, a work that has become an international symbol of the rejection of war. To the bombing of the Spanish Civil War the Ukrainian, drawing parallels with the horror suffered by its people.

In the days prior to his stay in the Spanish capital, Zelensky has closed an agreement with Greece to import liquefied natural gas from the United States through that Mediterranean country, in order to cover the deficit suffered by the continued Russian attacks on the energy sector. And in France, in addition, it has signed a commitment to acquire and air defense systems that Ukraine will receive gradually over the next decade starting next year.

Spanish aid

Until now, Spain has always been on Ukraine’s side, since the Kremlin launched its so-called “special military operation” on February 24, 2022. Since 2014, when the country suffered the unilateral annexation of the Crimean peninsula by the regime and the Donbas uprising encouraged by pro-Russians, Madrid cooperated with kyiv. In those years, assistance was non-lethal (humanitarian and health, above all), and that is how it began when this war began, but if on February 27 Spain began providing helmets, vests, masks or gloves, only on March 2 of that year it moved to lethal aid: rocket launchers, machine guns, ammunition. The thing was serious.

As the months go by, in this war that Moscow intended to be quick and has not been, the PSOE and Sumar Executive have been delivering more sophisticated and decisive material to their eastern allies. According to information from the Ministry of Defense at this time, 12 Hawk anti-aircraft battery launchers, Harpoon missiles, Aspide rockets, two batches of Patriot missiles, C90 grenade launchers, 105mm OTO Melara cannons, artillery ammunition, assault rifles and ammunition, machine guns, howitzers, mortars, anti-tank mines, drones, remote weapons guidance systems, have been sent to the area. night vision equipment, clothing against chemical, radioactive or biological attacks, winter equipment, bulletproof vests, mine trackers, medical supplies, field hospitals, electricity generators, 40 cargo trucks, eight patrol boats, at least 50 armored Mechanized Caterpillar Transport, VAMTAC vehicles for infantry and 30 Leopard battle tanks. The Government has always defended that material has been delivered “in perfect conditions of use”, without any reduction in its operational capabilities.

As more recent commitments, the Ministry of Defense has advanced the shipment of a package with anti-tank defense systems and more ammunition of various calibers, more night vision equipment and tactical vehicles, of which, as usual, no details are given for security reasons. And the Foreign Ministry also confirmed, last month, the shipment of 70 generators to “reinforce the Ukrainian electrical system.”

The report sent by the Congressional Defense Commission last March, with data on arms trade in 2023 and the first half of 2014, also places Ukraine among the main recipients of military material manufactured in Spain: exports of defensive material to the attacked country amounted to 283.7 million euros in said period. The 153 million of the entire 23rd represent 4.1% of all operations carried out throughout the year.

Added to this is the more than 100 million euros allocated to humanitarian assistance and a Spanish team of medical trainers. In May 2023, the document adds, an agreement was signed with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to provide 100 million in financial guarantees and in 2025, an additional contribution of 10 million euros to serve vulnerable groups.

Last February, on his fourth visit to kyiv since the start of this contest, President Sánchez announced that throughout this year one billion euros would be allocated in military aid to Ukraine, the same amount that had already been set aside for that purpose in 2024, which was the largest disbursement for a third country made in history by the Spanish Government in the matter. The German Kiel Institute estimates that Madrid has already given a total of 1.47 billion euros, 0.12% of GDP, which places it in 16th place on the list of donors. As the Executive defends, “it is an ethical and strategic imperative” to be present in the reinforcement of Ukraine.

Refugees have also been welcomed (the Ukrainian population in our country has increased from 96,880 people at the end of 2021 to , explains the Permanent Immigration Observatory of the Ministry of Inclusion), and within the framework of the military assistance mission of the EUMAM Ukraine (the EU Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine of the European Council) and the civil mission for security reform, knowledge has been transferred to improve the military capacity of the Forces. Ukrainian Armed Forces, an intangible of enormous importance, such as the training of medical personnel.

In addition to the European Union, Spain today has foreign missions in Eastern Europe also with NATO, with a focus on deterrence and defense of the eastern flank. The main ones include participation in ground deployments (Forward Land Force) in Latvia, Slovakia and Romania and the Reinforced Air Police mission (Persistent Effort).

Since last year, there has been a Bilateral Security and Defense Agreement in force that regulates all exchanges, both military and humanitarian, and with a view to the reconstruction of Ukraine and a “just and lasting” peace for its people.

In his last conversation with Sánchez, which took place on October 21, Zelensky spoke of Spain’s support for the country’s energy system and “measures that could reinforce” Ukrainian air defenses. Just two days later, Spain joined the PURL program (English acronym for Ukrainian Priority Requirements List), through which our country . It is one of the main commitments that Donald Trump’s Executive has extracted from its European partners, which allows it not to put more resources or money into the Russian invasion and, at the same time, for US defense companies to do business selling material to the old continent.

For now it is unknown how much money Spain will collaborate with, but the newspaper says it could be around 200 million euros, following what was promised by other partners. This fund will seek, above all, to strengthen the Ukrainian skies and protect its critical infrastructure.

Our country is also part of the call, an alliance of nations that seeks to guarantee the security of Ukraine after a hypothetical peace agreement with Russia. Its main objective is to provide security guarantees, which could include the presence of land, sea and air troops, but not to wage war, but to deter, to prevent future aggression and ensure peace. This initiative has been promoted by France and the United Kingdom and has the formal commitment of at least 35 States already.

Political and military tensions

The truth is that Zelensky arrives at a complicated time, politically and militarily. Starting on the battlefield, the clear Russian advance is worrying. As the EFE Agency explains, all attention had been focused on the fighting for the eastern cities of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk, which Russia has still not taken despite reports from Moscow that pointed to its imminent fall. But in just a few days the Russian Army has taken several towns on the Zaporizhia front, in southeastern Ukraine.

This Russian advance is probably the fastest seen on a generally stagnant battlefield since Kremlin forces regained the initiative just over two years ago, this medium indicates.

The Russian offensive in the Zaporizhzhia region has raised alarm bells in Ukraine, where numerous experts point to the personnel deficit in the kyiv Army as one of the problems that has allowed this progress by the Russian forces.

Popular military blogger Sergey Sternenko has warned that Ukraine is headed for “a catastrophe on a strategic scale” that could endanger the very existence of the state. If drastic changes do not occur, he said, “it is a matter of time” before Russian tanks reach the cities of Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro.

But the Ukrainian president’s headaches go beyond the trenches and drones. They also come from offices, more specifically from a corruption scandal that was uncovered a week ago, the so-called Midas Case. What has happened? That several ministers who have served in his Administration are being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) for their alleged involvement in a bribery scheme against contractors of the public atomic energy company that would be led by businessman Timur Mindich. Mindich is a friend of the president and owns 50% of the production company that Zelensky founded during his acting days. The Ukrainian president has issued sanctions against Mindich, who fled the country hours before the NABU began the searches on Monday of last week.

The gradual revelation of fragments of the thousand hours of conversations intercepted by NABU and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) to the plot has become the most popular political soap opera in Ukraine these days, where many wonder if Mindich could have had so much influence over several ministers at the same time without the favor of the Presidency.

The evidence in the case was collected over fifteen months by the SAP and NABU. In July of this year, Zelensky tried to subordinate NABU to the state prosecutor general, a position that depends on the Presidency, but he had to rectify and renounce his reform plan due to pressure from his main European allies.

Being in Spain will not erase all that backpack of problems, but its weight can be alleviated if it achieves a commitment from Sánchez that allows it to continue facing a war that is heading into its fourth year.