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Pedro Sánchez has stated that he will "reaffirm Spain's support for Ukrainian democracy and President Zelenskyy" during his upcoming visit to Kyiv on 24 February. His fourth visit to the country also coincides with the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. President Sánchez's gesture of support aims to legitimise the Ukrainian government and the eastern country's territorial integrity, amid escalated tension from re-elected US president Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin.
The meeting between the Spanish and Ukrainian leaders is scheduled at a critical moment, after Donald Trump has shifted the US position towards discussions with the Kremlin for an imposed peace that ignores the invaded and sidelines Europe and Nato.
"On Monday, I will be in Kyiv to reaffirm Spain's support for Ukrainian democracy and President Zelensky," Sánchez announced on his X account - the social media platform belonging to tycoon Elon Musk, Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) advisor.
The Spanish president's statement came just hours after the re-elected US president dealt a new blow by endorsing Russian tactics and views that openly define the Ukrainian president as "a dictator". The US and Russia are holding negotiations without Ukraine’s participation, warning Zelensky that, if he does not compromise with the end of hostilities proposed by Washington and Moscow, "he will be left without a country".
This will be the fourth visit of the head of the Spanish government to Kyiv, driven by security concerns and support for the defence of both Ukraine against the invader and the whole of Europe against the reactivation of Russian imperialism. Previously, Sánchez met with Zelensky at the beginning of the war, on the first anniversary of the invasion and during Spain’s rotating presidency of the Union in the second half of 2023. However, these occasions only account for the meetings on Ukrainian territory. The two leaders also met in January at the economic summit in Davos (Switzerland), as well as in La Moncloa on 27 May 2024.
El lunes estaré en Kyiv para reafirmar el apoyo de España a la democracia ucraniana y al presidente @ZelenskyyUa.#SlavaUkraini
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) February 20, 2025
Trump’s shift in approach to the invasion frames the context of Sánchez’s upcoming trip to Kyiv. On Monday 17 February, the Spanish president attended the emergency meeting convened in Paris by Emmanuel Macron with the main leaders of the EU and its member states. The objective of the meeting was to compose an image of unity and the activation of European diplomacy in the face of the forced solution that Trump and Putin are seeking to forge, in an alliance that shakes the foundations of the international order in a way that hasn't been witnessed since the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Since the beginning of the invasion, Sánchez's government has advocated a 'just and lasting peace' for Ukraine that respects the country's territorial integrity, with Kyiv and Brussels as the leading figures. After the summit in Paris, which ended without the establishment of concrete initiatives, the Spanish president warned that there is no way out that rewards the invader or involves a "false closure", because that would only pave the way for a larger conflict in the future.
On the Spanish political front during these three years of war in Ukraine, the government and the main opposition party have not reached a national agreement to confront a conflict that, in addition to the humanitarian toll, has plunged European populations into a severe inflation crisis. Even without formal consensus, Sánchez and Feijóo (leader of PP) have maintained their respective support for the Ukrainians. The latter reiterated on Wednesday, with a tweet in which he maintained the attribution of responsibility for the war to Russia for its "aggression contrary to international law", warned against a peace that "cannot benefit the aggressor" and stressed that "the cause for Ukraine is the cause for Europe".
Despite these shared views, domestic tension remains high. Sánchez will travel to Kyiv on the eve of the congress meeting promoted by Junts (Catalonia's political party), which casts doubts on his majority support. The left flank allies reject an increase in the defence budget, which Nato has set at 2% of national GDP, a goal in which Spain lags behind all other Alliance members. In the meantime, PP demands that the president discusses any decisions with Feijóo, if he wants support in this area.
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