When Donald Trump announced at the beginning of July the suspension of the sending of weapons to Ukraine to prioritize “the United States defense”, it took only five days to change their minds. “We are going to send more weapons, they have to be able to defend themselves. They are receiving strong attacks and we will have to send more weapons, mainly defensive weapons,” he said. Actually, what convinced him was an agreement reached within NATO through which, from now on, member countries promised that the defensive material sent to kyiv would be bought from the United States, a round business for the American arms industry.
Then, the general secretary of the Atlantic Alliance sold as a great agreement the conquest torn by the United States. And he said that a list of countries from which he excluded Spain was added to the initiative. “I can tell you that, at this time, Germany, to a large extent, but also Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Canada, want to participate. And this is just the first wave. There will be more,” said Mark Rutte.
As Eldiario.es has been confirmed, Spain has reinforced in recent days its commitment to Ukraine for the sending of defensive material, but, at least for now, it has done so bilaterally. On July 28, in fact, Margarita Robles held a meeting with her Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umierov. And in that meeting the sending of artillery ammunition, surveillance systems, fuel and vehicles, among others.
In February, the president of the Government reiterated that Spain’s support to Ukraine would remain intact while the Russian aggression lasted. During the kyiv International Summit, Pedro Sánchez announced a new military assistance package for Ukraine worth 1,000 million euros in 2025, an economic endowment that is part of the Bilateral Security and Defense Agreement and adds to the more than 1,000 million already granted last year. This agreement, signed in May 2024 and with a duration of 10 years, covers areas such as “humanitarian assistance, the reconstruction of the country and the search for a fair and lasting peace based on international law.”
NATO members turn to the United States
Meanwhile, several NATO partners begin to join the initiative to supply US weapons to Ukraine. This Tuesday, for example, Netherlands announced that it will contribute 500 million euros to the purchase of US military equipment for Ukraine, becoming the first NATO country to forge a new protocol to supply US weapons, including patriot missiles. A step that soon celebrated Routte on his social networks.
“It is great to see that the Netherlands take the initiative and finance the first package of US military team for Ukraine in the framework of the initiative of the list of priority needs of NATO Ukraine,” said NATO general secretary.
Rutte thanked the allies to guarantee that Ukraine is still equipped to continue defending themselves from Kremlin attacks and protect their sky and population. He also added that he hopes that other NATO allies soon make “significant ads”.
The president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, showed his gratitude to Amsterdam for leading this new effort. “Ukraine, and, therefore, all of Europe, will be better protected from Russian terror. I sincerely thank the Netherlands of its important contribution to reinforce the Air Shield of Ukraine,” Zelenski wrote. “The package is valued at 500 million euros and includes American weapons, including Patriot systems missiles. It is the first measure of this type among NATO countries and at a time when Russia try to intensify their attacks. This will undoubtedly help protect the life of our people.”
The step taken by the Netherlands arrives just a few hours after several European countries, including Germany and Norway, buy from the United States of Patriot Antialene Defense systems for Ukraine, in an agreement provided by NATO. On Friday, Berlin announced that he was going to provide two other patriot systems to kyiv to continue improving his defense capabilities.
The US ambassador to NATO, Matt Whitaker, took a breast that “allies buy US weapons to help Ukraine defend himself, press Russia and boost employment in the US.” Whitaker pointed out that he expects more NATO allies to follow his example and supply Ukraine through this new mechanism. NATO’s commitment is to coordinate this initiative, financed by European allies and Canada, and divided into packages worth about 500 million euros.
Source: www.eldiario.es
