On Monday, twenty tanks were going to start from the port of Bilbao to Ukraine, but after delaying the shipment, on Tuesday they will go to sea. TOAs M-113, armoured caterpillar vehicles purchased by the Spanish Army in the 1960s, have been dispatched by the Government of Spain to Ukraine to increase its military protection in the war. The dispatch is the result of NATO’s decision to provide Ukraine militarily, as is the other States of the Atlantic Alliance, where Spain has chosen to strengthen Ukraine in the war against Russia. On Sunday in the Eitb news reports, they recalled that in September last year the government of Pedro Sánchez made another similar shipment to the government of Zelensky.
On Friday, the 20 tanks that will sail on Monday, under the supervision of the Ertzaintza and the Civil Guard, arrived in Santurtzi by road. On Monday at 09:30 a group of neighbours met at the gates of the port of Bilbao in Santurtzi. The popular initiative against NATO and the EU has called for a concentration under the slogan ‘No to sending arms for imperialist wars’. In addition to condemning the sending of arms, they have denounced that the "war that responds to the interests of the high class" "condemns the misery" of the people, and have demanded that Euskal Herria leave the European Union and NATO.
Later, at 11:00 hours, convened by the Gerrari Ez platform, a second concentration was held in the Sardinera park of Santurtzi. Under the motto "They need peace, not more weapons", the citizens who have joined the call protest at the sending of the tanks.
The military cargo departing Tuesday from the port of Bilbao is not the first and last shipment from the Spanish Government to Ukraine. The Leopard 2A4 tank, kept for a few years in Zaragoza, will soon take the same direction. The long-standing armoured vehicles are being watched and will soon be sent to the war in Ukraine.