This Friday, Portugal announced before allied nations gathered at Ramstein Air Base in Germany that it would step up its military and humanitarian support to Ukraine by sending more armored medical aid vehicles.
Speaking with Lusa at the conclusion of the contact group meeting on Ukraine, which met this Friday in Ramstein, Defense Minister Helena Carreiras underlined the “spirit of unity, cohesion and determination” among Kyiv’s allies.
“We both remain together and are determined,” Helena Carreiras assured, referring to the intention to increase military assistance to more than 50 countries of the group, including Portugal, which announced new support for military equipment and medical assistance.
“We are going to send five armored rescue vehicles,” the minister said, referring to three M113 armored vehicles prepared for transporting the wounded, and two M577 armored vehicles in a medical version, suitable for setting forward posts. save.
Before the members of the contact group on Ukraine, Portugal also announced the increase in the supply of 105 mm ammunition.
Helena Carreiras said that this Friday’s meeting served primarily to ensure that the allied countries of Kyiv discussed the issue of maintenance of equipment already sent to the theater of operations.
“At the end of the war year, we realized that logistics, in addition to sending materials, should also deal with the maintenance of military equipment,” the Minister of Defense explained.
On the sidelines of the contact group meeting, Helena Carreiras also took part in the meeting of the “tank coalition”, which unites all countries that have already sent armored combat vehicles to Ukraine, including Portugal, which sent several German-made Leopard tanks.
This coalition is expected to be expanded in the coming months, the Portuguese minister said, confident that more countries will support armored fighting vehicles in the future.
Another issue discussed at the Ramstein meeting this Friday was the response to calls for Kiev to provide fighter jets, but Carreiras acknowledged that progress is not much greater than what has been made in recent months.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted on the need to get Western fighter jets to repel successive air attacks by Russian troops.
“We are aware of this need and will try to respond to the calls of Ukraine, knowing the importance of the Air Force for the protection of the population and the armed forces,” Helena Carreiras assured.
“Ukraine has submitted regular lists of applications for military equipment. We took note and tried to respond to these needs, which we will continue to do,” the Minister of Defense concluded.
The military offensive launched by Russia on February 24, 2022 on the territory of 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 – from, according to the latest UN data, who classify this migration crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
At the moment, at least 18 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and housing.
The Russian invasion, justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security, was condemned by the international community as a whole, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions on Russia.
The UN has presented 8,534 dead and 14,370 wounded civilians as confirmed since the beginning of the war, stressing that these figures are much lower than the real ones.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.