President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with Frans Timmermans, leader of the Green-Labour Alliance faction in the House of Representatives of the States General of the Netherlands.
The Head of State thanked the Netherlands for its significant support to Ukraine and Ukrainian families from the very beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, and for the confidence that our country can rely on continued assistance.
“Thank you for your parliamentary resolutions, which help strengthen our army, our people, energy sector, and much more,” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The President highlighted the importance of establishing a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Russian Aggression against Ukraine and expressed gratitude for holding this year’s NATO Summit, which delivered important results for our state. It includes, in particular, the new NATO PURL program under which the Netherlands allocated USD 500 million for the procurement of American weapons.
“We can now see how the PURL program through NATO enables us to procure American weapons and how it operates. It is very good that the Netherlands was the first country to join the PURL program, and we have received this weapons support,” noted the Head of State.
During the meeting, they discussed strengthening Ukraine’s air defense, funding domestic arms production, including increased investment in drone manufacturing, and continued support.
“Elections will be held in the Netherlands in two months. Many things are uncertain. But one thing we are confident of: support for Ukraine will not change. The only thing that might happen is that this support will increase,” emphasized Frans Timmermans.
Particular attention was paid to diplomatic efforts and the development of security guarantees for Ukraine. The President noted that this week, national security advisors are working on finalizing the security architecture.
The faction leader is convinced that one of these security guarantees should be Ukraine’s membership in the European Union. He noted that he will make every effort to accelerate Ukraine’s accession and that the Netherlands is ready to provide the necessary expertise.
“I believe that we need to work on an energy union. I think the European Union should have an energy union, and it makes no sense for Ukraine not to be part of such a union. Ukraine has every opportunity to join the energy union even before becoming a member of the European Union,” said Frans Timmermans.