Spain joins arms procurement initiative for Ukraine after criticism from Trump

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said his country will join the PURL initiative to purchase American weapons for Ukraine.

As reported by El País, Sánchez said the purchase of weapons from the United States "is a NATO initiative launched several weeks ago", adding that "Spain, as a nation committed to the North Atlantic Alliance and to the defence and support of Ukraine, will join the PURL initiative".

US President Donald Trump has long criticised Spain for what he sees as its unwillingness to increase defence spending. Before the summit, he again targeted Madrid, describing Spain as "not a team player". He has previously gone as far as to say that Spain should be expelled from NATO.

Sánchez noted that since the start of his premiership, Spain has been increasing its defence budget and accused the previous administration of failing to meet its obligations.

"President Trump knows that since I took office as Spain's prime minister, we have not only met our commitments but have fulfilled those left unmet by other administrations – in this case, by the government of the People's Party," he said.

Until now, Spain – which angered allies by refusing to back higher NATO spending at the leaders' summit in June – had left open the possibility of joining the PURL initiative.