Madrid (AFP) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise visit to Madrid on Wednesday to drum up fresh military support against Russia during a summit of Latin American leaders in Spain.

Madrid is hosting a two-day summit of the Ibero-American Community, a 22-nation group of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries that are mainly in Latin America, where support for Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion has divided opinion.

After the summit finishes on Thursday, Zelensky will meet Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and “several leaders to exchange views on the situation of his country, its global repercussions and the main challenges for international peace and security”, Spanish government sources said.

Zelensky confirmed his arrival on social media, saying “our top priority is strengthening Ukraine’s air defenses, protecting our people, and expanding defense cooperation and production.”

“Further support steps are being prepared,” the president added, without providing detail on the measures or the leaders he would meet.

The far-right presidents of Argentina and Chile, Javier Milei and Jose Antonio Kast, as well as Bolivian conservative Rodrigo Paz are among the Latin American heads of state in the Spanish capital.

King Felipe VI will host Zelensky at his Zarzuela residence outside Madrid, the royal palace confirmed.

Zelensky’s fresh bid for support comes after he, Russia and the United States confirmed their negotiators will meet in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11 for the first talks between all three sides since February.

In Brussels, delegations from Ukraine, Germany, France, Britain, the United States, NATO and the World Bank met on Wednesday to discuss Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction ahead of those talks.

That work “includes identifying instruments and tools that can support Ukraine’s future development and own efforts”, said a European Commission statement after the meeting, to be followed Thursday by a NATO-hosted encounter on post-war security guarantees.

- Milei back in Spain -

Milei was expected to focus attention at the summit, which Sanchez is hosting weeks before a November 29 election he is predicted to lose, amid a feud he has developed with his leftist nemesis.

Two weeks ago, Milei made a visit to Madrid in which he called Sanchez a “disgraceful dictator” and urged Spaniards to “kick out” his Socialists in the election.

The firebrand libertarian has made several unofficial visits to Spain since becoming Argentina’s president in 2023 but has never met Sanchez, instead supporting the conservative and far-right opposition as well as launching into long diatribes against socialism.

In response, Sanchez has turned Milei’s insults and swingeing cuts to public spending in Argentina into a rallying cry against a “reactionary international” that also includes US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Ibero-American format has lost influence in recent years, and reversing that trend is the key goal of the group’s 30th summit in Madrid.

At the last summit, held in Ecuador in 2024, a historically low four heads of state turned up and the divided participants failed to adopt a final declaration.

This year, the seven Latin American presidents in attendance will illustrate the region’s tilt to the right after a slew of electoral victories for allies of Trump.

Further complicating the scene for Sanchez is the absence of his leftist allies in Latin America’s powerhouses: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Brazil’s newly re-elected veteran Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

- ‘Awkward’ summit for Sanchez -

The arrival of a host of right-wing attendees, a week after Spain’s second high-speed train collision this year killed 69 people, makes the summit “awkward” for Sanchez, Anna Ayuso, a Latin America expert at Barcelona-based think tank CIDOB, told AFP.

The summit opened with an official ceremony on Wednesday and a plenary session will follow on Thursday.

Sanchez told the ceremony that the Ibero-American Community “must build alliances” and “be sowers of peace” in a turbulent world that has dealt harsh blows to international cooperation.

The final declaration, which is still being negotiated, will focus on cooperation on disasters and civil protection as well as artificial intelligence.

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