‘Russia will not win this war,’ says Spain’s PM Pedro Sanchez on visit to Ukraine

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday on his second visit to the war-torn country since Russia’s invasion began

Sanchez was greeted by Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Evhen Perebyinis after he arrived in Kyiv by train on Thursday morning.

The premier was brought on a tour of Irpin upon his arrival, a town in the Kyiv region that was devastated by Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

Sanchez was accompanied by the Mayor of Irpin, Oleksandr Markushin and shown apartment blocks bombed by Russian forces.

He also travelled to Bucha where scores of Ukrainian civilians were massacred by invading soldiers in the early days of the war.

“Bucha and Irpin show the wounds and scars of Putin’s barbarism. Russia will not win this war. All of Spain stands with Ukraine,” the Spanish leader said on Twitter.

“We will stand by Ukraine and its people until peace returns to Europe,” he tweeted earlier upon his arrival.

Sanchez visited the Church of Andrii Pervozvanyi and laid flowers at a makeshift memorial at the site of a civilian mass grave.

Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of war crimes in Bucha, an allegation the Kremlin denies.

The mayor of Bucha said over 400 residents were killed by Russian troops, some with their hands tied behind their backs while more bodies showed signs of torture.

Later in the afternoon, Sanchez was received by President Zelesnkyy in Kyiv.

Sanchez’s visit comes a day after Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited the Ukrainian capital for talks with Zelenskyy, she pledged her country’s continued support but ruled out the delivery of fighter jets.