Portugal announced this Friday, before the allied countries gathered at the Ramstein airbase, in Germany, that it will reinforce its military and humanitarian support to Ukraine, by sending more armored medical aid vehicles.
Speaking to Lusa, at the end of the meeting of the contact group for Ukraine, which met in Ramstein, Defense Minister Helena Carreiras highlighted the “spirit of unity, cohesion and determination” among Kiev’s allies.
“We are and continue to be united and determined,” said Helena Carreiras, referring to the intention to reinforce military aid from the more than 50 countries in the group, including Portugal, which announced new support for combat material and medical aid.
“We are going to send five armored rescue vehicles,” said the minister, referring to three armored vehicles of the M113 type, prepared for the transfer of wounded, and two armored vehicles of the M577 type, in a medical version, suitable for the installation of posts advanced. rescue.
Before the members of the contact group for Ukraine, Portugal also announced the reinforcement of the shipment of 105 mm caliber ammunition.
Helena Carreiras said that today’s meeting served mainly for kyiv’s allied countries to discuss the issue of maintaining the equipment already sent to the theater of war.
“At the end of a year of war, we realized that support logistics, in addition to the shipment of material, must also deal with the maintenance of military equipment,” explained the Defense Minister.
On the sidelines of the contact group meeting, Helena Carreiras also participated in a meeting of the “tank coalition”, which associates all the countries that have already sent armored fighting vehicles to Ukraine, including Portugal, which sent several units of German-made Leopard tanks.
The expectation is that this coalition will expand in the coming months, said the Portuguese minister, confident that in the future there will be more countries to support with armored combat vehicles.
Another topic discussed at the Ramstein meeting was the response to Kiev’s orders for fighter jets, but Carreiras admitted not much more progress has been made than has been achieved in recent months.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted on the need to receive Western fighter planes to deal with successive air attacks by Russian forces.
“We perceive this need and we will try to respond to the calls of Ukraine, knowing the importance of the Air Force for the protection of the populations and the military forces”, guaranteed Helena Carreiras.
“Ukraine has submitted successive lists of requests for military equipment. We have taken note and have tried to respond to these needs, as we will continue to do”, concluded the Minister of Defense.
The military offensive launched on February 24, 2022 by Russia in Ukraine has so far caused the flight of more than 14.6 million people -6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 8.1 million to European countries-, according to the latest data from the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
Right now, at least 18 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian aid and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin as the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the wider international community, which has responded by sending arms to Ukraine and imposing them on Russia in political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented 8,534 civilian deaths and 14,370 wounded as confirmed since the start of the war, emphasizing that these figures are far below the real ones.
Source: TSF
