The bright blue train door was briefly polished by the conductor and then he stepped outside: outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, in the hard-hit Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Rutte traveled east by train on Friday to sign the ten-year security agreement with Ukraine. But the precise contents remained secret until the ink on the signatures that Rutte and President Volodymyr Zelensky put under the document was dry.
Only a few key words were announced: military support, cooperation in the defense industry, increasing (cyber) resilience and strengthening the interoperability of the Ukrainian army with NATO. The agreement, following the G7’s intention last summer to make such a commitment of multi-year aid, was called in advance by the government “a signal” that the Netherlands wants to support Ukraine for a longer period of time. Italy and Canada preceded the Netherlands last week.
The question is whether Ukraine, which is waging a bloody battle for the survival of the country along 1,000 kilometers of front line and is struggling with acute ammunition shortages, will receive immediate help with a signal. More important was therefore the promise that the Netherlands will again spend 2 billion euros on defense in Ukraine next year. This brings the total amount that Dutch society contributes to the war to 6.3 billion euros. In the short term, the Netherlands will invest a total of 250 million euros to ship the 800,000 artillery shells that were recently ‘found’ to Ukraine as quickly as possible.
The Netherlands will also donate nine howitzers and fourteen RHIB motorboats to Ukraine. Such boats are currently being deployed on rivers and sea to detect threats from kamikaze drones, for example, near cities. These extra boats may also be used for this purpose. In addition, the Netherlands supplies eight militarized river patrol boats and CB90 combat boats. “We are together, we fight together,” says Zelensky. “The Netherlands will not let us down.” No amounts have yet been determined for next year and beyond.
‘Full steam ahead’
The delegation with which the Dutch Prime Minister is received is strong. When the treaty was signed, the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky, Defense Minister Rustem Oemerov, Chief of Staff Andri Jermak and the Minister of Foreign Affairs were present in one room. It shows what an important ally the Netherlands has become of Ukraine in recent years. “The Netherlands is now boxing in the highest weight class,” says Prime Minister Rutte, referring to the total contribution of 6.3 billion euros.
But is it wise for an outgoing cabinet to make such a large expenditure and also to enter into an agreement for ten years? The PVV, which became the largest in the recent elections and is against such support for Ukraine, does not think so. Rutte sees it differently. “The House has promised that we will be completely missionary on this subject,” he says. “We cannot put the brakes on this. That is not possible. So we will continue at full speed. And we also have plans for the coming weeks and months. .”
These are supportive words, but the clock is ticking menacingly for Ukraine. In addition to securing arms supplies, Ukraine must also mobilize significantly to continue the war. “If weapons do not arrive for Ukraine soon, there will be no hands left to hold them,” an officer in Kramatorsk told reporters last week. NRC.
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Although Europe is finding more and more weapons for Ukraine (partly by purchasing them outside Europe, from countries that do not sell them themselves, according to Rutte), deploying EU or NATO troops remains taboo. French President Emmanuel Macron opened the conversation on Monday evening about the deployment of Western soldiers in Ukraine by saying that he no longer completely rules out this in the future.
Rutte, who may succeed NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg later this year – he is said to already enjoy the support of the United States and Germany – does not want it: “We are not going to do that. No boots on the ground”. “I don’t know if the [Oekraïense] men are gone, I don’t believe that. But we must ensure that the men who are there have all the material. And that is primarily air defense and artillery.”
Past the devastation
The choice of Kharkiv as a destination for Prime Minister Rutte is striking. Just 25 kilometers from the border, the Russian ballistic missiles hit their target within a few seconds. The following often applies here: first you hear the explosion, then the air raid siren. During the state visit, Rutte was taken by Zelensky past the devastation in a residential area in the northeast of the city. Russia fired eight heavy rockets into the city at the end of January. When the apartment building collapsed, five civilians were killed and 62 people were injured. About six thousand people lost their homes that day.
Discussions were held with Zelensky on Friday about strengthening the anti-aircraft defenses in Kharkiv. No commitments are made for this. What would it take to protect the people and buildings of Kharkiv from Russian missiles? Governor Oleh Syniehubov doesn’t know where to start. He looks confused: “Something,” he says. “One system… give us one little Patriot.” He holds his fingers close together to show what he would already be happy with.
For Rutte, the visit to Kharkiv provided an opportunity to meet members of the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, who helped repatriate the bodies of the victims of the MH17 air disaster in July 2014. The crash, caused by a Russian Boek missile, killed 298 passengers, including 196 Dutch people. The remains were transported from Kharkiv airport to Eindhoven. “I wanted to thank them for what they did. That is really incredible,” says Rutte.
After MH17, “the whole world understood what Russian aggression means, and what war means,” said Ukrainian President Zelensky. “Every nation can suffer if one country starts a brutal war.”
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The treaty is finally signed on Friday afternoon in a basement in a building of one of Kharkiv’s universities, in front of a row of Dutch and Ukrainian flags. At exactly the same moment, the two heads of state put their pen in the holder. Rutte puts his hand on Zelensky’s left shoulder and they hug each other. Then behind a green camouflage net a table is set for two – plates with salad, made with mayonnaise, on a white tablecloth.