Weapons for Ukraine: Spain plans to join NATO initiative

That is according to Euractiv, Ukrinform reports.

"We have been studying, logically, what joint purchases we can make during all these weeks since the NATO initiative was launched," the prime minister told journalists ahead of the EU leaders' summit in Brussels.

He added that Spain is "a country committed to the Atlantic Alliance and undoubtedly also committed to defending and supporting Ukraine at all levels," before announcing Madrid's intention to join the program.

The PURL initiative, launched in July last year under the coordination of U.S. President Donald Trump, allows NATO member states to purchase weapons from U.S. stockpiles, including those located in Europe, directly for delivery to Ukraine.

Spain's decision to join came after a phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, during which Zelensky raised the urgent need for weapons supplies to counter Russian attacks, El Pais reported.

Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles also discussed the possibility of joining the initiative with her Ukrainian colleague Denys Shmyhal on Monday.

However, it is not yet known how much funding Spain will allocate. As of last week, more than half of NATO members had joined the PURL initiative following a meeting of defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte did not specify which countries had joined the initiative at that time.

As reported by Ukrinform, Italy has privately expressed its readiness to participate in the purchase of American weapons for Ukraine under the special PURL program.

Photo: European Union