Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares will travel to Kyiv later tonight in a show of solidarity with Ukraine and a bid to help de-escalate tensions with neighbouring Russia that has massed troops on its border.
"Nobody is preparing for war...the reason for my trip to Kyiv today to see my Ukrainian counterpart is to ensure that dialogue and diplomacy are the way to resolve any dispute," he said.
Albares will meet his counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, who had invited him to visit, on Wednesday, before travelling to Lyon to meet his French counterpart, sources said.
On Thursday he is due to meet NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
"All our efforts are geared towards the peaceful resolution of this dispute, I don't consider war even as a hypothesis," Albares said.
In line with the European Union stance, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has previously warned Russia it would face massive economic consequences if it launched any kind of military intervention in Ukraine.
Russia denies planning to attack its neighbour. It is seeking sweeping security guarantees from NATO including a pledge that Ukraine will never be allowed to join the alliance that Moscow sees as a threat.
The Kremlin on Tuesday poured cold water on a tentative French assertion of diplomatic progress after President Emmanuel Macron's visit to Moscow, denying that Vladimir Putin had promised that Russia would stage no further manoeuvres near Ukraine for now.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that despite an absence of a deal, de-escalation was needed and that the meeting had provided the basis for further work on that front.
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I truly do not get this. Why do we give a damn about some ex communist country? Sure, it has the right to chose which boy´s club to join, but wouldn´t it be much better to have a good relationship with Russia and say: Ok Vlad, we understand your worries, we will not let Ukraine join NATO and have it as a neutral country between us as long as you do not invade it. By the way Vlad, why don´t you join NATO, so we can all fight the Chinese as that is the biggest threat in the world. Makes a lot more sense to me that this cockswinging that is happening now over some totally unimportant country.
Four planes and 140 soldiers isn't much of a committment. Still, someone's got to make the tea.