Dutch Foreign Minister Hoekstra announced his intention to continue supplying weapons to UkraineThe Netherlands will continue to supply weapons to Ukraine.
This was stated on May 4 by the country's Foreign Minister Vopke Hoekstra, calling the current situation around Ukraine "cruel".
He added that the Netherlands will also continue to supply humanitarian aid to Kiev, and in addition, will help in the restoration of the destroyed infrastructure.
"The Netherlands has been supporting Ukraine all this time and will continue to do so, primarily by supplying weapons, because reality is cruel and nothing else can replace such assistance for success on the battlefield," Hoekstra said at a speech broadcast by the Netherlands Broadcasting Corporation (NOS).
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky is also present at the event.
Earlier that day, the leader of the right-wing Dutch Farmer-Civic Movement party, a member of the country's House of Representatives, Caroline van der Plas, called Zelensky's visit to Amsterdam inappropriate and refused to participate in a meeting with him.
Zelensky's plane landed at the Dutch airport Schiphol the night before, on May 3. During his visit to the Netherlands, the Ukrainian leader, in addition to meeting with Prime Minister Mark Rutte, also intends to hold talks with the heads of the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Defense of the country.
He arrived there from Finland, where he was on an official visit at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinisto. The talks between the presidents of the two countries were devoted to the support of Ukraine, bilateral relations and the global geopolitical situation.
On April 20, it became known that Denmark and the Netherlands will transfer 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. The cost of weapons is 1 billion kronor ($ 147 million), it will be paid from the budgets of the two countries.
At the same time, on March 26, it was reported that hundreds of people supported a demonstration against the supply of weapons to Ukraine, which took place in Amsterdam. The demonstrators expressed confidence that the main goal of the Russian leadership is to "stop the genocide in Donbass."
Western countries have increased military and financial support for Kiev against the background of the Russian Federation's special operation to protect Donbass. Moscow has repeatedly condemned the supply of weapons to Ukraine, noting that the weapons will spread across Europe and threaten the security of the region.
The Russian side has repeatedly noted that Western arms supplies to Ukraine and training of the Ukrainian military in the West lead to an escalation of the conflict and make NATO countries a participant in it.