Dilip Kuner
A SECOND batch of Ukrainian citizens have arrived in Spain for military training.
Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles welcomed them yesterday (January 12) at the Torrejon Air Base near Madrid.
She was accompanied by Teodoro López Calderón, Chief of the Defence Staff and Ukrainian Ambassador to Spain Serhii Pohoreltsev.
Of the 225 Ukrainians who arrived on a Spanish Air Force Airbus 330, 198 are civilians with no military experience.
They will undergo basic combat training at the Toledo Training and Coordination Centre at the Infantry Academy in preparation for joining the war against Russia.
The centre has previously trained 64 Ukrainians during November and December. Spain has said it has a capacity to train 2,400 Ukrainians a year under an EU scheme.
Robles said: “It is a great honour for me to welcome them here. Spain has felt very close to the Ukrainian people since February 24.”
Ambassador Pohoreltsev thanked the Spanish government for its help and voved his country would fight on, saying: “For us, the end of the war means the recovery of all temporarily occupied territories.”
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