The Netherlands’ new foreign and defence ministers, Caspar Veldkamp and Ruben Brekelmans, respectively, paid a working visit to Kyiv to underline their country’s unwavering support for Ukraine and promise new Patriot parts and F16s.
Foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp, a former diplomat and member of the House of Representatives for the New Social Contract party, discussed with his counterpart Dmytro Kuleba the strong bilateral relationship between their countries and the commitment of the new Dutch government to supporting Ukraine in a phone call on July 3. The Dutch minister reiterated his government’s ambition to assist Ukraine on critical issues such as military support, sanctions, accountability efforts, and addressing child abductions by Russia.
“This weekend, I was in #Ukraine with @DefensieMin. My first working visit as the Netherlands’ Foreign Minister with a crucial purpose: to underline our unwavering support for Ukraine. This is of existential importance – the Russian aggression and destruction knows no limits,” Veldkamp posted today on X.
The Dutch ministers visited the large Trypilska power plant near Kyiv.
“We saw this at a destroyed power plant. Through these attacks on critical infrastructure, Russia targets many innocent Ukrainian civilians. This underlines the crucial need for more support, especially air defence. The Netherlands contributes with F-16 and Patriots,” Caspar Veldkamp wrote.
[Credit: Office of the President of Ukraine]
Defence minister Ruben Brekelmans of the conservative-liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) noted the plant “was completely destroyed by Russian missiles.”
“This unacceptable aggression again shows the need for more air defence. That is why we will soon be providing Patriot parts and F16s,” Brekelmans wrote on his X account.
Veldkamp and Brekelmans also traveled to Odesa to meet with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The government of the Netherlands has relied on a four-party coalition since July 2.
