Dutch Prime Minister Rob Yeaten has announced the signing of a partnership agreement with Ukraine, under which the Netherlands will invest 482 million euros.
“We have just signed a partnership agreement and it will be favourable for Ukraine, for the Dutch and for Europe. We will invest 482 million euros in defence. The Ukrainian drone manufacturing project will be able to make money very quickly thanks to this funding. Ukraine needs this in order to further counter Russian aggression,” Yeaten said on 16 April at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who arrived in the Netherlands on a visit.
Zelensky, for his part, noted that Ukraine had offered the Netherlands a format of “a special security partnership agreement and such a bilateral format, our drone agreement – Drone deal.” “It concerns not only drones as such, but the comprehensive development of all possibilities of defence of the sky, protection against missiles, drones, development of electronic warfare, our joint production of weapons,” Zelensky said.
According to the president, the leaders have tasked the teams to work out the details.
“We have just signed documents on the beginning of this work and on the first joint production exactly in the Netherlands,” Zelensky said.
President Zelensky arrived in the Netherlands from Italy, where he was staying on 15 April. In the Dutch city of Middelburg, Zelensky received the Four Freedoms Awards on behalf of the entire Ukrainian people for courage and steadfastness in the fight for freedom. The award was presented by Dutch Prime Minister Rob Yeaten and Elizabeth Roosevelt in the presence of Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Princess Beatrix.
Speaking at the award ceremony, the president emphasised the importance of holding Russia accountable for aggression – in a legal and practical sense. “And that Russian war criminals do not enjoy a normal life, but receive fair sentences. This is necessary. Just as it was necessary after World War II,” Zelensky said, adding that work is now underway to create a tribunal on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and thanked the Netherlands for its help.
Earlier this week, Zelensky said that he had signed similar agreements on security co-operation with Italy, Germany and Norway during his visits to these countries.