KYIV -- Days after taking office, top leaders of the new far-right Dutch government sought to dispel concerns about a shift toward Russia, vowing during a visit to Kyiv that its support for Ukraine was “rock solid” and that sophisticated warplanes and an air-defense system were on the way.
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Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp and defense chief Ruben Brekelmans -- in their first foreign trip since taking office -- made the announcements during meetings with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and during a Kyiv news conference.
The two Dutch officials arrived in Kyiv on July 6, but their visit was not disclosed publicly until July 7 for security reasons.
The Netherlands on July 2 swore in its first far-right government as recent ultraconservative swings in several countries sent shock waves through Europe and raised concerns about further support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
However, in an interview with Reuters in central Kyiv, Brekelmans said, "I wanted to stress that our support for Ukraine is rock solid. Our support to Ukraine is beyond any doubt."
"My message to all the officials in the Ukrainian government is that the Netherlands stands by Ukraine and will continue to support Ukraine in political, military, financial, and moral ways," Veldkamp told Reuters.
Veldkamp told the Kyiv news conference that the Netherlands will begin sending F-16 fighter planes to Ukraine "without delay" after export licenses were finalized last week, although he did not specify a date for the promised 24 warplanes.
The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and Norway have combined to pledge more than 60 F-16s to Ukraine since Washington reluctantly gave approval for the U.S.-designed planes to be provided by allies.
Delivery has been held up as individual nations establish protocols for exporting their F-16s and because Ukraine wasn't fully prepared to maintain or fly them despite the ongoing training of Ukrainian pilots in the West.
Kyiv has said it badly needs the sophisticated jets to allow it to win air superiority over its territory in the face of Russian air assaults.
The two Dutch leaders also said the Netherlands would provide Kyiv with an additional U.S.-made Patriot air-defense system, joining several other EU nations that have pledged to provide Ukraine with such armaments.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he “urgently” needs Patriot systems to protect Ukrainians and the nation's infrastructure from Russia's continued bombardment.
"Today we discussed how this initiative will be implemented and the expected delivery time of this system to Ukraine," Kuleba said of the Patriot system.