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Denmark, Spain PMs pledge more weapons to Ukraine in visit to Kyiv – Metro US

Denmark, Spain PMs pledge more weapons to Ukraine in visit to Kyiv

Spanish PM Sanchez and Danish PM Frederiksen visit Kyiv
Spanish PM Sanchez and Danish PM Frederiksen visit Kyiv

KYIV (Reuters) -Denmark and Spain’s prime ministers on Thursday pledged to send more weapons to Ukraine during a trip to Kyiv, where they met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a gesture of support.

Spain has sent a new batch of 200 tons of ammunition and military supplies to Ukraine, more than doubling the quantity of military aid it has sent so far, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told reporters in Kyiv.

His Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen said during the same press briefing that her country would increase its contribution of weapons to Ukraine by 600 million Danish crowns ($87.60 million). This would bring the Nordic nation’s military contribution to a total of 1 billion crowns, she added.

“We intend to deliver more weapons to Ukraine because that is what is most needed,” Frederiksen told the Danish channel TV2 as she walked around the town surrounded by armed soldiers.

Frederiksen also visited the badly damaged town of Borodyanka, which has been retaken after Russian troops pulled back from the region around Kyiv.

“We have all worldwide seen the reports and images of the horrible crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine but today we have seen it with our own eyes and it is heartbreaking,” Mette Frederiksen told the press briefing.

Frederiksen and Sanchez both arrived in Kyiv early on Thursday, according to footage posted on Sanchez’ Twitter account.

Frederiksen’s office said talks with Zelenskiy would focus on further support for the Ukrainians and the prosecution of “war crimes and human rights violations”.

Sanchez also said Spain would ask the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine and that it plans to send war crimes investigators there.

Russia calls its action a “special military operation” to demilitarise Ukraine and eradicate what it calls dangerous nationalists. The West and Kyiv accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of an unprovoked war of aggression.

Numerous European leaders have travelled to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion to show support for its president and people, more especially since Russia pulled back its forces from northern Ukraine.

($1 = 6.8466 Danish crowns)

(Reporting by Alessandra Prentice and Max Hunder in Kyiv, Inti Landauro in Madrid and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen;Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Toby Chopra, Kevin Liffey and Jonathan Oatis)