The race for the sending air defense arrays to Ukraine has started, but it doesn’t look like they will come from her Spain or Greece.
Madrid will not redeploy one of its three Patriots to Ukraine, Spain’s El País reports, and has instead pledged to send only missiles that can be used in existing versions of the surface-to-air system.
While the extra firepower would be welcome, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country fell far short of having at least seven high-quality arrays of missile-launching air defense systems needed to protect cities and critical infrastructure from Russian attacks.
The allies had hoped Spain could be one of the donors as Kiev tries to fend off a full-scale invasion by Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“Greece is not going to send S-300 or Patriot to Ukraine”
Meanwhile, Athens is also refusing to promise a system, given its security concerns with Turkey.
“Greece is not going to send S-300 or Patriot to Ukraine,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during an interview on Thursday night, according to Reuters.
In recent days, Greek media had reported that a swap deal might be possible, whereby the United States would agree to replace either a Patriot system based in Athens or an inactive Soviet-era S-300 system stationed in island of Crete so that they can be transported to Ukraine.
Patriot batteries only from Germany
Germany, which has promised Ukraine three of the Patriot arrays, has led the effort to pressure countries to donate their unused systems.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said this week that he “expects” countries to make the pledge, adding that he “cannot understand” the refusal of countries such as Spain and Greece.
On Friday, about 50 countries will meet via video conference for US-led talks on coordinating further military aid. Along with Spain, Greece and Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Poland have Patriot systems in their reserves.
