Volodymyr Zelenskyy has secured a pledge of additional air defence missiles from Spain to combat around 3,000 bombs he says Russia launches every month at Ukraine.
Yesterday the Ukrainian president said Kyiv still needs another seven US-made Patriot air defence systems to stop Russia hitting the power grid and civilian areas, as well as military targets, with devastating glide bombs.
"If we had these modern Patriot systems, [Russian] airplanes wouldn’t be able to fly close enough to drop the (glide) bombs on the civilian population and the military," Mr Zelenskyy told a news conference in the Spanish capital.
Since the meeting, the Netherlands has pledged to deliver parts of a Patriot air defence system to Ukraine and is talking to other countries in order to assemble a complete system (see 8.39am post).
Mr Zelenskyy and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez signed a bilateral security agreement allocating €1bn (£851m) of military aid to Ukraine this year, and €5bn (£4.3bn) by 2027. The package also features more Leopard tanks and artillery ammunition.
