President Volodymyr Zelensky held talks with Frans Timmermans, leader of the Green-Labour Alliance faction in the House of Representatives of the States General of the Netherlands, to discuss defense support for Ukraine, including joint weapons production projects.
The President announced this in a post on social media, according to Ukrinform.
“I met with Frans Timmermans, leader of the Green-Labour alliance in the Netherlands. We discussed Ukraine’s defense support, diplomacy, security guarantees, and our future in the European Union,” he wrote.
Zelensky stressed that Ukraine values the Netherlands’ readiness to continue its support. The president also highlighted their participation in the PURL initiative.
“The Netherlands was among the first to join and has already allocated 500 million dollars for American weapons for Ukraine; it is also funding the purchase of drones. Joint production projects are next in line. And this is extremely important for our defense against Russian aggression,” he noted.
The head of state noted that the Netherlands has stood with Ukraine from the very start of the full-scale war – helping Ukraine, Ukrainian families and military.
According to the President’s Office, 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. Zelensky noted that this week, national security advisors are working on finalizing the security architecture.
Timmermans noted 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,” he said.
Photo credit: President’s Office
Source: Zelensky discusses defense support with Dutch parliament representative
