“Spain is ready… to deal with our allies in any way necessary, whether that means sending Leopards, training in the use of Leopards or help in their maintenance and upkeep,” Defence Minister Margarita Robles said.

She did not say how many tanks could be sent, nor when they could be delivered.

Her remarks came shortly after Berlin said it would send some of its own Leopards to Kyiv and cleared other European nations to send their own stocks to Ukraine.

Russia denounced Berlin’s decision to approve deliveries of Leopard tanks to Ukraine as “extremely dangerous”, warning it would take the conflict “to a new level of confrontation”.

Germany’s announcement comes after weeks of pressure from Ukraine and many
of the countries supporting it.

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Kyiv had been seeking the tanks, which it sees as crucial for punching through enemy lines in the nearly year-long war, for months.

A recent analysis by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) concluded that if Kyiv was to receive about 100 such tanks, the effect could be “significant”.