Netherlands announces 500 million euro military aid package for Ukraine
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The Netherlands will provide Ukraine with a new military aid package worth 500 million euros ($557 million), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said after visiting The Hague on Oct. 28.
"Thank you for the new military support package for Ukraine worth €500 million, which is being prepared right now – this fall," Zelensky wrote on social media after meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten.
"This is truly significant, especially when it comes to repelling Russian air attacks."
The two leaders also discussed the U.S.-mediated peace process ahead of expected trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, cooperation in the energy and defense sectors, as well as the Bliksem air defense project, a pan-European effort to build an exo-atmospheric interceptor against medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
The news comes on the back of a Dutch ministerial visit to Kyiv, where the country's trade minister announced a package of non-military aid worth 1.2 billion euros (about $1.3 billion) for Ukraine, to be disbursed over the next three years and directed toward the country's economic recovery.
"Support for recovery and reconstruction can't wait for a ceasefire. Ukraine needs our help right now: military support, but also social and economic assistance," Dutch Foreign Trade Minister Sjoerd Sjoerdsma said during his visit to Kyiv.
"However successful you are on the battlefield, it's also essential that energy systems, hospitals and food production keep ticking over."
The package includes 878 million euros (close to $977 million) previously outlined in the Dutch government coalition agreement, plus an additional 327 million euros ($364 million) announced on Sept. 15.
Despite its small size, the Netherlands has consistently been one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters in Europe, being one of the first countries to agree to provide Kyiv with F-16 fighter jets, and more recently one of the main contributors to the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative, where Kyiv's partners pay for crucial U.S.-produced equipment and ammunition to be delivered to Ukraine.
