Ukrainian Foreign Minister, his Dutch counterpart discuss energy, defense, diplomatic support for Ukraine
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha and the newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Tom Berend Willem Berendsen, discussed further energy, defense and diplomatic support for Ukraine during a meeting in Kyiv.
Sybiha also reported on the visit to Kyiv of the Netherlands’ new defense minister, Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius.
"I am pleased to welcome to Kyiv the newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Tom Berendsen. His first foreign visit is to our country, together with the new defense minister. This is the first international visit by two ministers of the new Dutch government at once. For us, this is a sign of special respect, and we deeply appreciate it… I am grateful to the Netherlands for these important political signals. The new Dutch government has identified international security and the development of partnership with Ukraine as its priorities," Sybiha said at a joint press conference with his Dutch counterpart.
According to Ukraine’s foreign minister, the sides held substantive discussions on energy cooperation.
"In recent months alone, the Netherlands has allocated EUR 23 million for energy needs. In particular, four large and 19 small transformers, EUR 35 million mainly for solar energy systems. Today is the last day of winter, and that is good news. Tomorrow the calendar spring begins. This means that Russia’s winter terror has failed… And we are grateful to all our partners for this," Sybiha said.
He noted that the Netherlands’ total defense support exceeds EUR 14 billion, of which nearly EUR 10 billion has been provided directly for weapons.
"Thank you for the prompt transfer of ammunition for our air defense. The Netherlands is one of the leaders of PURL. Its contribution amounts to EUR 750 million. We agreed to continue successful cooperation in the field of drones. This includes contracts for 600,000 drones totaling EUR 510 million. Additionally, another 350,000 FPV drones worth EUR 300 million. We expect to scale up joint production, in particular within the framework of the Build with Ukraine initiative," the head of Ukrainian diplomacy added.
The sides discussed the diplomatic track and the trilateral negotiation process. They also addressed sanctions, primarily against Russia’s shadow fleet and energy sector. Special attention was given to the creation of a special tribunal in The Hague for the crime of aggression, as well as ratification of the convention establishing an international compensation commission.
For his part, Berendsen said he was impressed by the resilience of the Ukrainian people and assured that Ukraine can continue to count on Dutch support.
"We will continue to help you militarily, financially, and through humanitarian assistance and reconstruction, including support through the private sector… This year President Zelenskyy said that the war may be at the beginning of its end, and I sincerely hope that is the case… I want to assure you that our support will not end when the war ends and will continue beyond… We continue to advocate for the use of frozen sovereign Russian assets to support Ukraine. In particular, we are working to secure a EUR 90 billion loan agreed by the EU in December. We will support the swift adoption of the 20th sanctions package against the Russian Federation. We must include its military-industrial complex, including the shadow fleet. And we will maintain cooperation with Ukraine’s defense industry. During our meeting today, we discussed these issues," Berendsen said.
