Ukraine Adds to Defense Stockpile as Putin Warns of 'Inevitable' Attacks

Spain has provided Ukraine with more weapons as Russia has threatened future attacks.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Friday on Twitter that Spain provided HAWK surface-to-air missile defense systems. He made the announcement following a meeting with Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles in Odesa.

"Spain stands with Ukraine," said Reznikov, adding that an unspecified number of Ukrainian troops will undergo training in Spain.

"Humanitarian and security assistance will continue," he added on Twitter.

Two HAWK defense systems provided to Ukraine come on the heels of four previous systems sent to the country by Spain in early November, as previously reported by Reuters.

Robles said November 10 that her country would also send a battery of six light howitzers and include training for Ukrainian crews. She described it as compliance with a NATO request to help Ukraine defend against continued Russian missile and drone attacks on water and energy infrastructure.

Ukraine's stockpile also includes NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems) and S-300 missiles. The NASAMS have been particularly effective in defending against Russian artillery, according to the Pentagon.

"The NASAMS systems had a 100 percent success rate in intercepting Russian missiles as the Kremlin continues its ruthless bombardment of Ukraine," U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in mid-November.

On Friday, the Kremlin provided a summary of a phone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, held at Germany's request to discuss the present situation in Ukraine.

Putin "pointed out the destructive policy of Western countries, including Germany, pumping the Kiev regime with weapons and training the Ukrainian military," according to the Kremlin.

He also said that political and financial support in Ukraine's favor decreases Kyiv's wanting to negotiate a potential ceasefire, adding that "it encourages radical Ukrainian nationalists to commit more and more bloody crimes against the civilian population."

After Russian forces refrained "for a long time" on conducting specific missile strikes on certain Ukrainian targets, Putin told Scholz that "such measures have become an unavoidable and inevitable response to Kiev's provocative attacks against Russia's civilian infrastructure, including the Crimean bridge and energy facilities."

The Kremlin also on Friday rejected President Joe Biden's willingness to broker peace talks with Putin. The U.S. president made the comment Thursday during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, saying Putin's forces exiting Ukraine is "the rational way" for the war to end.

According to the Kyiv Post, Berlin spokesman Steffen Hebestreit told reporters after the Putin-Scholz discussion that the chancellor condemned strikes on civilian infrastructure and vowed continued defense capabilities for Ukrainian forces.

"The chancellor urged the Russian president to come as quickly as possible to a diplomatic solution, including the withdrawal of Russian troops," Hebestreit said.

Newsweek reached out to the Kremlin for comment.