Netherlands allocates over $210 million for ammunition for Ukraine
The Netherlands has allocated more than 200 million euros (roughly $210 million) to new initiatives for quick delivery of air defense and artillery ammunition for Ukraine, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said on April 19.
Ukraine has been facing increasingly critical ammunition shortages, compounded by intensifying Russian attacks and delays in U.S. assistance.
"Air defense equipment and artillery ammunition are desperately needed in Ukraine. The situation may turn critical," Ollongren said during an online meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council.
President Volodymyr Zelensky requested the gathering earlier this week amid Russia's intensifying aerial attacks on Ukrainian cities that continue to highlight the growing shortage of sufficient air defense systems.
"The resources to which the Netherlands is now contributing are already on the European continent and will go to Ukraine as quickly as possible. We must now all do everything we can to support Ukraine," the Dutch defense minister noted.
Specifically, the country is devoting 150 million euros ($160 million) to Germany's Immediate Action on Air Defense initiative. The Netherlands has also allocated 60 million euros ($64 million) for the purchase of short-range air defense hardware, for example, to counter Russian drones.
The Netherlands has further contributed to the Estonian initiative to buy artillery shells for Ukraine from existing stocks. Previously, the country pledged 250 million euros ($266 million) to the Czech plan to buy artillery rounds outside of Europe.
Following the council meeting, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the allies have pledged to provide Ukraine with additional air defense systems. President Volodymyr Zelensky noted that Ukraine needs a minimum of seven Patriot systems, which would "save many lives."
Russia's recent strikes against Ukraine's energy infrastructure destroyed several thermal power plants across the country, including the Trypillia plant, the main electricity supplier to Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and Cherkasy oblasts.
Zelensky said earlier that the Trypillia plant was destroyed because Ukrainian forces had run out of missiles to defend it.
