The new Dutch government has made a statement regarding support for Ukraine

The new Dutch government has announced large-scale and long-term military aid to Ukraine. Amsterdam will allocate 3bn euros annually to Kiev for defence needs at least until 2029, confirming one of the firmest courses of support among European countries.

This was announced by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga after a telephone conversation with the new Dutch Foreign Minister David van Wiel. According to Sibiga, the Dutch side clearly indicated "unwavering support for Ukraine", including multi-year funding for the army, as well as readiness to further support Ukraine's course towards EU and NATO membership.

During the conversation, the Ukrainian minister briefed his counterpart on the current security situation and thanked the Netherlands for the recent aid package for the Ukrainian energy sector affected by Russian strikes. The sides paid special attention to bilateral cooperation and promotion of the idea of setting up a special international tribunal to hold Russia accountable for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

For his part, the new Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Rob Yeaten, said that the war in Ukraine directly affects the security of the whole of Europe and stressed that he had no intention to hold a dialogue with the Kremlin, as he saw no real signals of Russia's readiness to stop the war.

As long as the war continues, we will support the Ukrainian people. We are maintaining our years of financial and military aid and will continue to insist on the use of frozen Russian assets," Yeaten emphasised.

In addition to annual aid, the Netherlands is also considering allocating up to 15bn euros to Ukraine as part of a 90bn euro pan-European loan to buy arms, including from the US. This makes the country one of Ukraine's key partners in the issue of long-term defence support.