The EU and NATO are putting pressure on Greece and Spain to hand over additional air defense systems to Ukraine

The EU and NATO are putting "strong pressure" on Greece and Spain to provide Ukraine with more air defense systems.

This is reported by the Financial Times with reference to its own sources.

During the summit in Brussels last week, EU leaders personally called on the Prime Ministers of Spain and Greece, Pedro Sanchez and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, to transfer part of their air defense systems to Ukraine.

According to the leaders of both countries, their armed forces have more than a dozen Patriot systems, as well as other systems such as the S-300, but they do not need this equipment as much as Ukraine.

"We all know who has them, we all know where they are and we all know who really needs them," one source said.

According to their data, less pressure is exerted on Poland and Romania, which also have Patriot, given their more vulnerable location on the border with Ukraine.

Sources note that on Monday in Luxembourg at the meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs and defense of all 27 EU member states, this pressure is likely to increase.

"There are countries that, to be honest, do not need to immediately acquire air defense systems," noted one of the European diplomats who participated in the preparations for the meeting. "Each country is asked to decide what it can donate."

• On April 19, NATO countries agreed to provide Ukraine with more military aid, including air defense systems and equipment.