Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal held a conversation with Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles on October 21.
Shmyhal emphasized that Ukraine urgently needs to enhance its air defense in light of escalating Russian attacks, particularly through the provision of missiles for Patriot, NASAMS, and IRIS-T systems.
“We talked about the possibility of such support from Spain. Additionally, we discussed prospective joint industrial projects, including the repair and production of military equipment on the territories of our countries. We also explored Spain's involvement in the PURL initiative,” he stated.
Shmyhal thanked Robles for her support of Ukraine and invited her to “visit Kyiv to discuss mutually beneficial partnerships between our defense sectors.”
Currently, the Spanish Ministry of Defense has not commented on the meeting.
According to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, over 2 billion euros have been raised in the first months of the PURL initiative, primarily to procure weapons and ammunition that are not produced by European manufacturers. Among them are air defense systems.
Rutte's latest information indicates that half of the NATO member countries – 16 nations – have joined the initiative, although France, the UK, Poland, Spain, and Italy are not among them.