Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be received in The Hague on Tuesday by outgoing Prime Minister Dick Schoof and King Willem-Alexander. According to the Government Information Service, during a lunch at the Catshuis, discussions will include “the peace talks and our continued support for Ukraine.”
Outgoing ministers David van Weel (Foreign Affairs, VVD) and Ruben Brekelmans (Defense, VVD) will also attend the lunch. The king and Zelensky will also meet separately in Huis ten Bosch Palace and the Ukrainian president will give a speech in the Senate and House of Representatives.
These are important days for the Ukrainian president. On Monday, Zelensky was in Berlin for summit meetings with European foreign ministers and government leaders about the conditions for peace between Russia and Ukraine. He already spoke about this on Sunday with representatives of the United States Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. After those talks, Zelensky said he is willing to abandon Ukraine’s NATO membership ambition. Witkoff stated on X that “a lot of progress” had been made. Ukrainian chief negotiator Rustem Umerov, chairman of the Security Council, called the American attitude “extremely constructive.”
American security guarantees
After the summit meeting in Berlin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and President Zelensky reported that the US had promised important security guarantees should Russia and Ukraine reach a ceasefire. Merz and Zelensky said at a news conference that the US, in cooperation with the EU, is prepared to provide “legal and material security guarantees” that are “similar” to those in NATO’s Article 5, which states that an attack on one member will be considered an attack on all members.
Anonymous US officials confirmed to the AP on Monday evening that the US had agreed to provide security guarantees, but did not specify how far those guarantees would go. After telephone consultations with Zelensky and other European leaders, US President Donald Trump said that a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia is “closer than ever”.
Ukraine’s European allies pulled together. Ukraine can only give up territory if it is assured of protection and the consent of the Ukrainian people, the main European countries underlined. Europe does not want Russian “aggression to pay off,” Prime Minister Dick Schoof said.
In one joint statement the heads of government of Germany, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom and the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission also stated on Monday evening that Ukraine must be protected with an international force after the end of the war. Troops from NATO countries on Ukrainian territory have so far been out of the question for Russia.
Merz takes a pioneering role
By announcing a ‘ten-point plan’ on far-reaching defense cooperation between Germany and Ukraine, Merz underlined on Monday the leading role that Germany is taking in support of Ukraine. According to the plan, the defense ministers of both countries will hold regular consultations and the Ukrainian defense industry will have its own representative office in Berlin.
Joint purchases of defense equipment produced in Ukraine to protect NATO airspace are also being considered. This mainly concerns interception drones. According to the Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung ‘example projects’ will be selected for the joint development and production of defense equipment.
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