Ukraine demands tanks from Spain due to the silence of the Government

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Ukraine

is not only looking to

ahead of today's momentous NATO meeting in Ramstein.

She has also set her sights, among other countries, on

, which has been explicitly asked to send more weapons, including tanks, to deal with

's offensive .

However, after an elusive first response from the Government, disassociating itself from a hypothetical shipment of armored vehicles, the

takes refuge in silence and avoids revealing what will be the position that the Spanish delegation will defend at that summit on German soil.

The Government is aware, among other things, that this matter arouses strong resistance within the Government coalition, with Podemos and IU radically against assuming what yesterday was labeled a "war escalation", and that in the case to send tanks it is foreseeable that a crisis will open.

At least because of the opposition of some ministers, as you saw when arms were sent at the start of the invasion.

Just in case, the

, the heart of the IU, has already jumped in to press with a resounding "No more weapons for the war in Ukraine!"

On the other side is the PP, which urges Pedro Sánchez to send battle tanks as soon as possible and demands that he not be "paralyzed" by the "divisions" in the Executive.

Ukraine's request

kyiv yesterday made two explicit appeals to Spain.

In the morning, the Foreign Ministers,

, and Defense Ministers,

, urged Sánchez to supply Leopard armored vehicles as soon as possible in order to counteract the Russians and "for the good of their own citizens."

They did so in a statement in which, in addition to citing Spain,

,

,

,

,

,

,

and

were mentioned .

In the afternoon, the President of Ukraine,

, was the one who once again cited Spain in a press appearance together with the President of the European Council,

.

"Many countries are prepared to deliver tanks to us, they are motivated and support us but they are waiting for the relevant documents from the countries that have the right to authorize it (...) We are all waiting for the consent of the country that has the rights to the relevant licences," he said in statements collected by Efe.

He referred to Spain, Poland, Finland and Portugal among the countries that are ready to send battle tanks, some of them "even a small number of the tanks they have", adding that they were already ready to have sent them "even before ».

Spain's position is not clear before today's crucial meeting in Ramstein, where the defense ministers and senior military commanders of

, made up of 52 countries, will study whether to go up a step in military aid and send armored

Sources from the Ministry of Defense consulted by this newspaper refused to comment on the matter.

The Spanish minister, Margarita Robles, will not be at that meeting in Germany.

The Director General of Defense Policy, Lieutenant General

, and the Chief of the Joint Defense Staff (Jemacon), Lieutenant General

, attended .

Last Tuesday, the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, considerably cooled the expectations of sending Leopard tanks.

"The possibility is not on the table," he said from the Davos summit.

However, the head of Spanish diplomacy qualified the following day to point out that the government's position will depend on what happens in Ramstein, in a meeting that was "very important."

It was then that he opened a door by saying that the government likes to "do things together with the rest of the allies."

In his day, Sánchez was one of the first to promise tanks, but in August Robles rejected that approach because the Leopards he was referring to were in an "absolutely regrettable" situation.

Spain bought 108 of those tanks and later produced 218 Leopardo 2 -the Spanish version-.

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