Netherlands and Ukraine sign security agreement

Macron stands by his statement regarding ground troops in Ukraine. The Netherlands and Ukraine conclude a bilateral defense agreement. More information in the news blog.

9:29 p.m.: After the visit of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj thanked him for providing further arms aid. “Today there is a new package of military assistance from the Netherlands for our soldiers,” Zelensky said in his daily video message. He estimated arms deliveries to be worth two billion euros this year. The Ukrainian president made the video recording in the city of Kharkiv, which was heavily destroyed by Russia’s war of aggression.

Zelensky once again emphasizes the importance of anti-aircraft defenses for protecting the country. The Netherlands is helping to secure the skies over Ukraine with its participation in the coalition of states that supplies Kiev with F-16 fighter jets, he said. The arms package was part of a security agreement that Rutte and Zelensky signed in Kharkiv. For Ukraine, it is the sixth agreement of its kind with a Western state.

Zelensky is promising his compatriots further arms packages and new security agreements with other countries for March. He doesn’t give any details about it. Ukraine is heavily dependent on Western support in its two-year-long defensive battle against the Russian invasion.

5:56 p.m.: The Netherlands became the seventh country to conclude a ten-year security agreement with Ukraine. The agreement that Prime Minister Mark Rutte and President Volodymyr Zelenskyj signed today in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv provides for military aid of two billion euros in the current year alone, as Zelenskyj announced.

For this purpose, Rutte traveled at short notice to the second largest Ukrainian city, which is around 40 kilometers from the Russian border and is regularly the target of Russian air strikes. According to Zelensky, the Russian military has destroyed more than 20,000 buildings in the city in the past two years.

2:47 p.m.: Despite clear criticism, French President Emmanuel Macron is sticking to his thoughts on ground troops in Ukraine. “Every word I say on this topic is considered, thoughtful and prudent,” he told broadcaster BFMTV at the opening of the Olympic Village in Paris. He did not want to comment further because it was not the place for “geopolitical commentary.”

After a recent Ukraine aid conference, Macron did not rule out the use of ground troops by his country in Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia. At the meeting with more than 20 heads of state and government, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), there was no agreement on this, but nothing could be ruled out in the future course of the war, Macron said on Monday evening in Paris. Scholz rejected Macron’s proposal for a possible deployment of ground troops from NATO countries to Ukraine.

1:03 p.m.: According to British estimates, Russia has massively increased its arms production for the war of aggression against Ukraine. “Although the defense industry is not able to fully meet the requirements of Russian operations against Ukraine, it is almost certainly capable of maintaining a materiel advantage over Ukraine throughout 2024,” the UK Ministry of Defense said on Friday with.

Production output rose sharply in 2023, it said in London. This was achieved by increasing the number of employees to 3.5 million, expanding shifts, expanding existing production lines and putting unused production capacity back into operation. The majority are not new, but rather renovated or modernized weapons and vehicles, such as battle tanks.