Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/UKRAINE: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez arrived in Kyiv on Thursday on a surprise visit marking the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“I return to Kyiv a year after the start of the war. We will stand by Ukraine and its people until peace returns to Europe,” Sánchez wrote on Twitter, alongside a video of himself stepping off a train and greeting Ukrainian officials.
The trip, which was not listed on the Spanish leader’s official agenda for Thursday, follows a highly secretive visit by Joe Biden to the Ukrainian capital on Monday. He announced half-billion dollars in new assistance for Kyiv.
Spain is among several NATO allies that have agreed to send modern tanks to Ukraine and have trained 800 Ukrainian troops in the Iberian country since the start of the war, Madrid’s defense minister said Wednesday.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s office said he would meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and speak to the Ukrainian parliament on Thursday.This is a surprise visit by a Spanish leader to Kyiv in a show of support for Ukraine on the eve of the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. According to his schedule, he will hold a joint news conference with Zelensky.
His office said that Sánchez also plans to visit Bucha and Irpin, two towns near Kyiv that have become synonymous with alleged Russian war crimes. In addition, he would lay a wreath at a war memorial.
