Spain PM announces $710 million in military aid for Ukraine

• Spain announced a new military aid package for Ukraine worth 615 million euros ($710 million), with nearly half earmarked for "new defense equipment."
• Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez made the announcement alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, stating, "Your fight is ours."

Spain will provide Ukraine with a fresh military aid package worth 615 million euros ($710 million) to support its fight against Russia, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced Tuesday.

Speaking at a Madrid press conference alongside visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Sanchez said around 300 million euros of the package would be allocated to "new defence equipment".

"Your fight is ours," Sanchez said, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin's "neo-imperialism" seeks to "weaken the European project and everything it stands for".

The package also designates 215 million euros to fund the production of anti-drone systems, surveillance radars, and aerial reconnaissance equipment, much of which will be developed by Spanish companies.

These efforts will be supported through the European Union's new Security Action for Europe (SAFE) defence fund, which aims to help Europe provide for its own security.

Additionally, 100 million euros will be transferred to a NATO-led initiative supplying Ukraine with air defence systems.

Under the initiative -- known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL -- European allies and Canada are purchasing US weapons to help Kyiv counter Russian forces.

The Spanish announcement comes a day after Zelensky signed an accord in Paris with France for up to 100 Rafale fighter jets and other military hardware, including drones.

Zelensky is scheduled to travel to Turkey on Wednesday for renewed peace talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US envoy Steve Witkoff.

Since February, 2022, tens of thousands of people -- both civilians and soldiers -- have died and millions have been displaced, leaving large areas of the country devastated.

Earlier Tuesday, Sanchez and Zelensky visited Madrid's Reina Sofia Museum to view Pablo Picasso's anti-war masterpiece Guernica, which the Spanish leader called a "universal symbol of barbarity".

The painting is named after a Basque town bombed on 26 April 1937 by Nazi German forces supporting General Francisco Franco during Spain's civil war. The attack killed as many as 1,600 people and wounded thousands.

In April 2022, Zelensky drew comparisons between the bombing of Guernica and Russia's attacks on Ukrainian cities.