In 2026, Spain will provide Ukraine with €1 billion in military assistance while simultaneously launching a new format of cooperation in the DefenceTech sector — the joint production of weapons and military technologies by Spanish and Ukrainian companies. The announcement was made by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez during President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Madrid on March 18.
According to El País, the new €1 billion package is part of a ten-year bilateral security pact between Spain and Ukraine. Madrid plans to finance part of the package through the European defence programme SAFE, making support for Ukraine not only a bilateral decision, but also part of the broader architecture of European rearmament. Following the announcement of the new package, Spain’s total military assistance to Ukraine since February 2024 will reach €4 billion.
The key development is that Madrid and Kyiv are moving from a model of “aid plus deliveries” to one of joint production. According to Reuters and El País, agreements were signed during the visit between Spain’s Sener Aerospace & Defence and the Ukrainian companies Fire Point, Luch, and Radionix. The cooperation covers the production and development of solutions in drones, radar systems, communications, air defence, and missile technologies. Separately, Spain’s Escribano Mechanical & Engineering reached an agreement with the Ukrainian company Skytown on the production of guided munitions.
This gives the new package a fundamentally different meaning: it is not only about direct military support, but also about the localization of part of defence production, the integration of Ukrainian developers into Western supply chains, and the gradual formation of a joint industrial base. Spanish media have explicitly stressed that this cooperation combines Spanish technology with the Ukrainian combat experience accumulated during the full-scale war.
Speaking in Madrid, Zelenskyy stressed that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Ukraine to compete for critically important air defence systems, including Patriot missiles, amid the escalation in the Middle East. Reuters and EFE note that it was in this context that Sánchez specifically emphasized that the war around Iran would not divert Spain from supporting Ukraine. This is an important political signal, as Kyiv has openly warned in recent weeks about the risk of reduced military supplies due to the reallocation of Western resources.
In a broader context, Spain’s support is far greater than the new defence package alone. According to El País, citing government data and international analytical centres, the total volume of Spain’s financial, humanitarian, and other support for Ukraine has already approached €17 billion, and exceeds €20 billion when bilateral and multilateral mechanisms are included. This places Spain among Ukraine’s largest donors within the EU.
In addition to the defence component, the sides also signed a separate railway agreement. The Spanish company Tria will develop an adaptation system that will allow Ukrainian trains to transition from the Soviet gauge to the European standard. The pilot phase will begin in Córdoba with a budget of €5 million. Although this is a separate area, it clearly illustrates the logic of the current visit: Spain is entering Ukraine not only as a donor, but also as a partner in industrial, defence, and infrastructure modernization.
For the investment and defence market, this news is important for several reasons. First, Spain is effectively cementing its role as one of Ukraine’s key European partners in the field of defence cooperation. Second, the discussion is no longer simply about the procurement or transfer of weapons, but about the creation of a joint manufacturing ecosystem that could give Ukrainian companies access to new technologies, contracts, and export markets. Third, against the backdrop of uncertainty over U.S. support and resistance from some governments within the EU, such bilateral industrial alliances are becoming an increasingly important tool for Ukraine’s long-term resilience.
