They came by road and left by sea. The first batch of 20 TOA M-113 armored personnel carriers was loaded on Tuesday, February 7 at the port of Bilbao bound for Ukraine. This shipment, which the Spanish Ministry of Defense has been processing since August, will precede the subsequent shipment of Leopard 2 tanks. Spain thus begins its supply of war material in coalition with a number of European countries supported by the States -United.
The Spanish government has pledged to send around 20 M-113 armored vehicles to Ukraine to deal with Russian military forces. They are known as TOA, Transporte Oruga Acorazado (tracked armored transport) and are used to transport military personnel. These nine-ton armored vehicles reach a speed of 67.5 km/h and can accommodate up to 13 people. The life cycle of most of these Spanish M-113 TOAs had already come to an end. American-made, they began to arrive in the Spanish arsenal in 1963, following military agreements with the United States. The original M113 was developed and produced by the American company FMC Corporation. It was shipped to the US Army in Europe in 1961 and was first used in combat in April 1962 in Vietnam (it became the most used American armored vehicle in that war).
On Tuesday afternoon, around 4.30 p.m., the armored vehicles, guarded by Guardia Civil agents, were driven one by one into the hold of the cargo ship Finneco I, chartered by a private shipping agent operating in the port of Bilbao. This cargo ship will transport the armored vehicles to a Baltic Sea port for delivery to the Ukrainian army. Spain will also send Leopard 2A4 battle tanks to Ukraine, the number of which has not yet been specified by the Defense Ministry. They will be available to the Ukrainian authorities at the end of March or early spring.
Last week, Spain began development of the Leopard 2A4 tanks that the Ministry of Defense will send to kyiv. These include, among others, 53 tanks deactivated for more than ten years and stored at the 41st Logistic Support Group in Casetas, Zaragoza. Five of these tanks have been in the headquarters of the Santa Bárbara company in Alcalá de Guadaíra (Seville) since last week, which is already working on their repair and refurbishment for shipment to Ukraine. The Leopards arrived in the armed forces in 1995, when 108 units were leased from Germany for use at Spanish bases, which were eventually purchased ten years later for 16.2 million euros. This is the Leopard 2A4 version and will be sent to Ukraine.
No debate in Parliament
In the absence of further details on the operation, several political parties have put on the table the need for parliament to debate and vote on sending tanks to Ukraine. In addition to the frontal opposition of Podemos, other groups allied to the government, such as ERC (Catalan Left Party) and EH Bildu (Basque Left Party), demanded that the decision go through Congress. Deputy Gabriel Rufián said: “This is the first step towards democracy”. However, presidential spokesman Félix Bolaños explained that all operations in Ukraine “are coordinated with all our partners and allies, always under the umbrella of NATO”. “It is in this context that all decisions are made.”
Precisely because the agreement was adopted within the framework of“an agreement already approved” on the supply of equipment, the decision to send battle tanks to Ukraine would not even have to go through the Cabinet of Ministers. The PP, which is in favor, nevertheless demanded that Defense Minister Margarita Robles appear before the Council of Ministers to give details of the government’s plan.
Technically, the decision to send the Leopard tanks to Ukraine does not require the approval of Parliament, because it is not a question of sending “troupes”. Section 4.2 of the National Defense Act states that “the Congress of Deputies is responsible for authorizing, in advance, the participation of the armed forces in missions outside the national territory”. There will therefore be no question of tanks in Congress. This is a repeat of previous decisions on the conflict, but on this occasion, sending tanks can be considered a qualitative leap. However, the government ignored it.
The worry of a Third World War
The delivery of Leopard tanks to kyiv has reignited tensions within the coalition over the government’s strategy in the war in Ukraine. “It is time to lead the diplomatic way”demanded the Secretary General of Podemos and Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra, before warning of the consequences “unpredictable” of the new delivery, which Izquierda Unida also rejected. Vice President Yolanda Díaz avoided a direct confrontation with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, by advocating a “autonomous strategic position” and Europe “in favor of peace”even though it characterized the measure as “qualitative leap” in “arming position that causes enormous concern in Spanish and European society”.
“Many experts warn us that the deployment of Leopard tanks would only contribute to the escalation of the war and could have an unpredictable and very dangerous response from Russia”Belarra said at a conference on advances and challenges in social rights in Spain. “Peace will come through negotiation and de-escalation, and that’s where we have to find Spain. Peace is a condition of possibility to close the inequality gap and guarantee social rights in Europe”she pointed out.
The Secretary General of Podemos was the first to question the delivery of arms decided by President Pedro Sánchez and has since made this rejection a standard, being particularly active within the Movimiento Europeo Por la Paz (European Movement for Peace), an alliance of left-wing parties and organizations in Europe promoted after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Belarra’s belligerence then contrasted with the support of Vice President Díaz and Ministers Alberto Garzón and Joan Subirats for Sánchez, which opened a new breach not only with the Socialists – with whom they usually differ on military policy – but also within Unidas Podemos.