Portugal plans to send Ukraine another 160 tons of materials, including military equipment.

This was announced by Defense Minister Helena Carreiras.

Carreiras noted that her Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksiy Reznikov, who participated in the meeting of EU defense ministers remotely, was "optimistic" about the situation on the ground, but stressed that Ukraine still needs "support in the form of heavy equipment to cope with the problems they still have.

According to the minister, member states should continue to support Ukraine because "everyone believes that the war will continue." Even EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell, concluding the meeting, "asked member states to continue to support Ukraine because the resistance of the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian armed forces must be supported," she said.

Carreiras reiterated that Portugal and its allies would continue to support Ukraine "as much as possible," announcing that the country would soon send more supplies, military and others.

"As reported, we have sent about 170 tons of lethal and non-lethal military equipment in the first phase and other types of materials. Now we are preparing a new shipment, another 160 tons of materials, and I would like to emphasize the diversity of our support," she said.

The minister stressed that "this is not only about military equipment, but also about medical and humanitarian support. Portugal is also able to accept Ukrainian refugees, she said, adding that the same is true for "wounded Ukrainians."

"So there is a variety of support here, and we also talked at this meeting about the continuity of support related to training, for example, or demining, at a later stage. We will continue to talk about Ukraine's needs," the minister said.