Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte addresses a speech on the Netherlands' involvement in slavery, in the National Archives in The Hague, on Dec. 19, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Rutte on Friday, March 1, 2024, signed a bilateral security agreement that includes the donation of patrol boats and other watercraft. (Robin Van Lonkhuijsen/ANP/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte signed a bilateral security agreement that includes the donation of patrol boats and other watercraft.
The pact inked on Friday is similar to the deals Ukraine has secured recently with the U.K., Germany, France, Denmark, Italy and Canada.
It will provide Ukraine with $2.16 billion in military aid from the Netherlands this year and further defense assistance over the next 10 years, Zelenskyy said in a statement on the social media platform X.
The aid will include air defense, artillery and long-range weapons and assistance for Ukraine’s air force. The Dutch Ministry of Defense said it will provide Ukraine with 14 rigid-hull inflatable boats, eight paramilitary river patrol boats, and CB90-class fast assault craft.
Some of the watercraft will be supplied from Dutch military’s own inventory while others will be sourced from industry.
Rutte said the Netherlands would also participate in an initiative announced last week by the Czech Republic to help finance the purchase and delivery of about 800,000 rounds of ammunition for Ukraine.
The Dutch ministry said it would increase its contribution to $271 million from $108.5 million announced earlier.
On X, Rutte said the agreement meant that Kyiv is “assured of our continued support and commitment: across the full breadth of our defense cooperation, but also when it comes to reconstruction, sanctions and the search for truth and justice.”
The Dutch premier, who’s likely to become the next leader of NATO later this year, also attended a briefing with Ukraine’s army chief and defense minister in Kharkiv focused on reinforcement of air defenses, Zelenskyy said. Kharkiv, he said, is a city that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is trying to destroy with brutal air strikes.”
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