Six Leopard tanks have left Spain and are on their way to Ukraine to ramp up its military capacity, Reuters reports.
The tanks have been loaded onto cargo vessel on Friday and will be shipped by sea to Poland, according to the news agency.
At the end of February, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that he would send a total of 10 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. He faced opposition from far-left Podemos, the junior partner in his ruling coalition, which has warned this will only escalate the war and has instead pressed for peace talks.
Western allies have been ramping up the supply of military hardware to Ukraine as it prepares to face a potential renewed Russian offensive this spring. Germany hesitated for months on whether to send its tanks to Ukraine, eventually giving in to international pressure.
Now, leaked U.S. cables revealed that alongside Spain, also Germany, Norway, Portugal, Greece and Finland are planning to send tanks to the invaded country.
The model of tank Spain is shipping is among the older ones the country possesses, German media outlet ZDF said. The Western European country owns almost 350 Leopard 2 tanks in total.
