Spanish PM to travel to Kyiv 'in coming days'

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will travel to Kyiv "in the coming days,", a government spokeswoman said Tuesday without providing the exact date for security reasons. 

The announcement came a day after Spain said it would reopen its Ukrainian embassy in Kyiv "in a number of days". 

Sanchez "will travel to Kyiv in the coming days, you will understand that I can't give you more information about the visit for security reasons," government spokeswoman Isabel Rodriguez told a press conference.

"It is a way of showing our commitment to the Ukrainian people and government," she added after a regular weekly cabinet meeting.

Sanchez is following in the footsteps of several other European leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, who have gone to Ukraine since the start of Russia's invasion of the country in a show of support.

Spain is providing aid to Ukraine through military equipment, humanitarian aid and by welcoming tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees.

The country has so far sent 12 planes with tons of weapons and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said Monday.

"We will send as many planes are as necessary," she added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky compared Russia's devastating assault on his country to the Nazis' 1937 bombing of the northern Spanish town of Guernica in an address to Spain's parliament earlier this month.