Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine’s president, and Mark Rutte, Netherlands prime minister, during a tour of a hanger containing F-16 fighter jets at an airbase near Eindhoven, Netherlands, on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023. Photo by Ksenia Kuleshova/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

The Netherlands is signing a ten-year security agreement with Ukraine to provide medium and long term military support and strengthen Ukraine’s defence industry, the Netherlands Ministry of Defence announced on 23 February.

Netherland’s Minister of Defence, Kajsa Ollongren, stressed that Ukraine’s war to repel the illegal invasion by Russian forces is an extension of Europe’s efforts to secure its own freedom and security. The 10-year security arrangement, she added, represents a shared freedom for the next decade.

The agreement brings into substance security arrangements discussed at the Nato summit in Vilnius on 12 July 2023, where the Netherlands said that it would enter into a security arrangement with Ukraine, like G7 countries. 

The recent announcement follows from a similar 10-year agreement between Germany and Ukraine signed on 16 February. 

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As well as medium and long term military assistance and support to strengthen Ukraine’s defence industry, the Netherlands’ agreement with Ukraine will include provisions to enhance Ukraine’s cyber resilience and interoperability between Nato forces and Ukraine’s army. 

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Netherlands has contributed a over €2.8bn ($3.0bn) in military support to Ukraine so far, including deliveries of weapons, ammunition and materiel from the Netherlands own defence stocks and in cooperation with the defence industry, as well as contributions to the International Fund of Ukraine and other international funds to assist Ukraine’s defence. 

Leading the air force coalition of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, the Netherlands has been instrumental in bringing together the donation of 24 F-16 fighter jets as well as a broad support package of spare parts and ammunitions for sustainment activities. 

The Ukrainian Navy is undergoing training activities with the Netherlands on mine-hunter vessels that will be made available to the Ukrainian navy from 2025. This adds to the 35,000 Ukrainian service members that have been trained during Operation Interflex, a training programme administered but a host of international partners including Netherlands.

Ollongren emphasises the need for continued and ongoing support for Ukraine, highlighting the suffering under Russian occupation that has been catalogued since the Ukrainian counter offensive of Summer 2023 liberated areas Northern Ukraine. The Minister for Defence points to the existent occupation of Southern and Eastern Ukraine as areas of still unknown levels of destruction.