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Spain won’t send tanks to Ukraine — Analysis

The tanks are “in an absolutely deplorable state,” the Spanish defense minister said

Spanish defense minister Margarita Robles said that Spain can’t send its Leopard 2A4 tank to Ukraine as they are not used in years. 

Robles had previously stated that it was possible to send tanks in June “was on the table” after the Spanish newspaper El País reported that Spanish officials were considering sending about 40 German-produced Leopard tanks housed at a facility in Zaragoza. 

“We are today looking at all the possibilities, but I can already say that the Leopards in Zaragoza that have not been used for many years cannot be sent because they are in an absolutely deplorable state,”Robles spoke Tuesday, at Torrejon de Ardoz airbase in Madrid.

“We can’t give them away because they would be a risk to the people”They are operated, she explained.

The June report from El País noted that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez offered the tanks to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to Kiev. That plan was shelved, however, due to technical complications and the fact that it also required approval from Germany’s parliament. 

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Spain has been a military sponsor of Kiev since Russia’s military incursion began at the end of February. As noted during Sanchez’s visit to Kiev in April, Spain has supported Ukraine diplomatically, voted in favor of EU sanctions on Moscow and sent its largest shipment of military aid ever to Kiev.  

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