Spain To Provide 4 Leopard Tanks, €55M to Ukraine

Facts

• Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez announced €55M ($60M) in additional financial aid for Ukraine during a visit to Kyiv on Saturday.¹
• The aid, Sánchez said, will go toward helping small and medium-sized businesses in Ukraine. About €51M of the funds will be allocated through the World Bank, he added.²
• Sánchez also said Spain — which took over the six-month rotating presidency of the 27-nation EU on July 1 — would deliver more weapons to Kyiv, including four Leopard tanks.³
• In his address to the country's parliament, Sánchez said Spain would be with Kyiv "as long as it takes."⁴
• Later in a joint press conference, Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky claimed his troops had killed about 21K Wagner mercenaries fighting in the eastern part of the country and injured another 80K. The claims, however, couldn't be independently verified.⁵
• Meanwhile, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hana Maliar said that Russia made advances in four regions of the front line in the nation's east, adding that "fierce fighting" is making the situation "quite complicated." She also reported Kyiv's "partial success" in the south of Bakhmut.⁶

Sources: ¹Amu TV, ²Ukrainska Pravda, ³Arab News, ⁴Euronews, ⁵CNN, and ⁶Al Jazeera.

Narratives

• Pro-Ukraine narrative, as provided by Washington Post. It's necessary to make Ukraine a member of the EU to establish long-lasting peace and guarantee democracy, the rule of law, and macroeconomic and financial stability. Sánchez's visit to Kyiv demonstrates the West's unequivocal political commitment to support the war-ravaged nation.
• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by RT. Talk of Ukraine joining the EU is nothing more than a political gambit to provoke Russia. Not only would it complicate Ukraine's position with Russia and draw the world even nearer to a global conflict, but it would take years for Kyiv's accession to even play out.

Predictions