Spain will give Ukraine a $1.1bn military aid package by the end of May, including Leopard 2A4 tanks, dozens of missiles for Patriot air defence systems and other weapons

Spain will announce a record military aid package for Ukraine today.

Here's What We Know

Today - 27 May - during the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Madrid, he will meet with King Felipe VI of Spain and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

El Pais sources said that immediately after the meeting with Sanchez, a press conference will be held at which the head of the Spanish government will announce the allocation of a $1.1bn military aid package to Ukraine.

This is an unprecedented amount of aid that Spain has ever allocated to Ukraine or any other country.

Official information about the transferred arms will come later, but according to sources close to the Spanish government circles, it will include 19 Leopard 2A4 tanks and dozens of missiles for Patriot air defence systems, which Ukraine is particularly in need of.

The weapons are expected to arrive in Ukraine by the end of May.

Flashback

The Leopard 2A4 modification appeared in 1985. The tank is equipped with a 120 mm smoothbore gun Rh-120 L/44 and twin 7.62 mm NG3 machine gun. The 12-litre MTU MB 873 Ka-501 engine with an output of 1,500 horsepower enables the tank to reach a speed of 68 km/h (31 km/h when reversing).

Source: El Pais