The Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda has announced that Spain will proceed to close the airspace to Russian airlines, something that several European countries have already announced.
As reported by the Ministry in a publication on its Twitter account, collected by Europa Press, following the cooperation guidelines set by the European Union, this measure will have effects on flights operated by Russian airlines that use Spanish airspace.
Spain will proceed to close the airspace to Russian airlines.
Following the cooperation guidelines set by the European Union, this measure will have an effect on flights operated by Russian airlines that use Spanish airspace.
— Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban A. (@mitmagob) February 27, 2022
“Spain will proceed to close the airspace to Russian airlines. Following the cooperation guidelines set by the European Union, this measure will have effects on flights operated by Russian airlines that use Spanish airspace,” says the publication.
[Siga la última hora del conflicto entre Ucrania y Rusia]
20 tons of defense material
On the other hand, Spain is going to make an urgent shipment of 20 tons of defense and medical material destined for Ukraine, after the invasion of this country by Russia, in two Air Force planes that are scheduled to fly this Sunday from the Torrejón de Ardoz air base (Madrid) to Poland.
The Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, went to the air base at noon to find out the details of this urgent shipment and supervise the loading of the first plane, which, like the one that will leave this afternoon, is scheduled to land at an airport in Poland located about 90 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
There he will be picked up by Ukrainian authorities to continue the transfer by land.
Among the 20 tons of material there are helmets, bulletproof vests and defense material against bacteriological or nuclear war, but also medical supplies such as masks, gloves and protective suits.
“The European Union as a whole is going to work in coordination to continue bringing material to Ukraine. It is time for solidarity,” said the minister.
Robles has clarified that the material that the Ministry of Defense plans to send this Sunday and the 20 tons of medical material that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been preparing since Saturday are urgent shipments that Spain makes on its own, without prejudice to those that it makes in a future in coordination with the European Union.
Precisely, this Sunday a meeting of foreign ministers of the European Union is scheduled to finalize the coordinated delivery of material to Ukraine and another of the defense ministers on Monday.
The defense and health material that will depart this Sunday has been compiled in the last few hours by the Army in Madrid and Valencia, according to the minister, who has highlighted the “heroic nature of the citizens of Ukraine” in the face of the invasion of Russia.
“The whole world has to feel as we do, very proud of the citizens of Ukraine and the resistance they are putting up against this unacceptable invasion,” he added.
Robles has reported that the Ministry of Defence, following a request from the Ministry of Health, has made one hundred beds available (75 in the Gómez Ulla military hospital in Madrid and 25 in Zaragoza) “in case medical assistance or of injured people in Ukraine”.
Regarding the Spanish soldiers deployed near Ukraine (350 in latvia150 in Bulgaria and about 300 on the three ships in the Black Sea), the minister said that she recently spoke with the lieutenant colonel present in Latvia and told him that everyone’s morale is “very high”.
“They are fulfilling their prevention and dissuasion tasks,” he declared.
The two convoys with about 150 Spaniards who were evacuated from Ukraine at the beginning of the war arrived at the border with Poland on Saturday, but Robles does not know when they will arrive in Spain as it is a matter for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
However, he has commented that the two Air Force planes that will fly this Sunday to the Polish border with Ukraine will return empty, so they can be used “for any need.”