Spain will join the purchase of American weapons for Ukraine under the PURL initiative.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced this, according to Euractiv.
He noted that Spain is a country that is “committed to the North Atlantic Alliance and, without a doubt, also committed to defending and supporting Ukraine at all levels.”
“We have, logically, been studying what joint purchases we can make during all these weeks since the launch of the NATO initiative,” Sanchez said.
At the same time, it is currently unclear how much money Spain will allocate to fund the PURL initiative.
The Spanish Prime Minister’s statement came a few hours after US President Donald Trump again drew attention to Spain’s low defense spending commitments within NATO.
Trump said that Spain was “not a team player.” Earlier, he even claimed that the country should be “excluded” from the Alliance.
Following the Ramstein Contact Group meeting, Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal announced that new contributions to the PURL initiative had reached at least $422 million.
According to him, more than half of NATO member states have either already participated financially in the initiative or have declared their intention to do so.
In addition, PURL participants plan to raise $1 billion in monthly contributions to purchase weapons from the US for Ukraine.
PURL (Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List) is a list of Ukraine’s priority defense needs, compiled by the Ukrainian military in collaboration with NATO representatives.
The initiative serves as a bridge between the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the capabilities of its allies, providing timely and balanced support for effective combat operations against Russian invaders.
