Spain to send 700 troops to Slovakia to strengthen NATO flank
PHOTO CAPTION: Spanish soldiers secure the perimeter of a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook during Defender Europe 2023 at Zaragoza Air Base, Spain, May 15, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Katie Tamesis via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain will send 700 troops to Slovakia and add 250 military personnel in Romania as part of efforts to strengthen NATO's eastern flank, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday during a NATO summit in Vilnius.
Both eastern European countries border Ukraine, which has been fighting off a Russian invasion since February 2022. The United States, Britain and global allies prepared to unveil new security assurances for Kyiv at the summit on Wednesday.
"Spain will continue to contribute to the alliance's effort to achieve the just and lasting peace that we have always called for since the beginning of the war," Sanchez told reporters.
In late 2022, Spain announced it was sending 130 troops and eight F-16 jet fighters to Romania.
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo, editing by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Toby Chopra)
