News item | 26-01-2024 | 16:51
Commander of the Armed Forces (CDS) General Onno Eichelsheim saw with his own eyes this week during a visit to Ukraine why it is important to continue to support the country. Moreover, he heard first-hand the impact of the war at the moment. He spoke with his fellow CDS Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force and many other Ukrainian soldiers.
The Ukrainians see Dutch support as essential. The gratitude is still great, the CDS was told. During the visit, the importance of the support was once again underlined. For example, one of the Patriot systems disabled Russian missiles during a missile attack on Kiev. When Eichelsheim later spoke to the soldiers who operated this system, they proudly said that a launch device supplied by the Netherlands had contributed to this.
Although there is great gratitude for the Dutch deliveries, everyone who spoke to the CDS indicated that much more is needed. This mainly concerns ammunition, air defense systems, demining equipment, drones and missiles. The head of the Ukraine Task Force was able to tell Ukrainian colleagues what the Netherlands will deliver next year.
“The Russian Federation has significantly increased its arms industry,” Eichelsheim said. “We must do this much more in our countries, in order to continue to support Ukraine and at the same time further build up our own armed forces.”
Learn from each other
The general called the way in which Ukraine continues to find new, innovative ways to use the equipment they have “very impressive.” He stated that the Netherlands can learn a lot from this. Not only about alternative ways of deploying military resources, but also about how Dutch equipment performs in a war.
During the visit, agreements were made on how both countries will exchange these lessons learned and innovations with each other. In the technical field, when it comes to weapon systems, but also in the tactical, operational and strategic field when it comes to how to wage war. This also requires the involvement of Dutch industry. This exchange of knowledge should help Ukraine to innovate its actions in the war even faster, in order to remain successful.
“One thing has become even clearer during this visit,” Eichelsheim said. “Putin is not going to stop, so we must continue to support Ukraine. After all, they are also fighting our war.”