Netherlands announces new military aid package for Ukraine

"The Netherlands is to provide fast and highly manoeuvrable rubber and patrol boats as well as assault craft to Ukraine. The Netherlands also contributing € 250 million to the Czech initiative to order large numbers of artillery shells for Ukraine in the short term," the statement said.

Ukraine will receive:

• 14 rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBs);
• 8 militarized river patrol boats;
• CB90 assault craft.

Some of these watercraft will be supplied from the defense department's reserves, while others will come from industrial enterprises, according to the department.

Additionally, it was recently announced that the Netherlands would provide additional assistance in the form of ammunition worth over 100 million euros.

Netherlands assistance to Ukraine

The Netherlands consistently provides assistance to Ukraine in the war. In particular, the Netherlands, along with Denmark, led the aviation coalition to train Ukrainian pilots on American F-16 fighters. Recently, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte stated that the process of transferring F-16 fighters to Ukraine is proceeding according to schedule. Ukraine is set to receive over 20 combat aircraft.

Furthermore, the Netherlands will allocate over 100 million euros to Ukraine for the Czech initiative to purchase artillery shells outside the EU.

At the end of November 2023, the Dutch Foreign Minister announced plans to provide additional assistance of 2.5 billion euros to support Ukraine in 2024.

Also, on March 1, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte signed a bilateral security agreement between Kyiv and Amsterdam.