Netherlands exhausts capacity for direct military assistance to Kyiv

The Netherlands has exhausted its capacity to provide additional direct military assistance to Ukraine after committing billions of euros in support since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Dutch Defence Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Yeşilgöz-Zegerius said the Netherlands would continue to encourage other allies to support Kyiv but indicated that The Hague had reached the limits of what it could contribute directly, Bloomberg reports.

"The Netherlands no longer has the capacity because we have already done so much," she said.

Asked about Ukraine's requests for additional Patriot air defence missiles, the minister replied:

"We have reached our limit."

The remarks come as Ukraine faces growing challenges in countering Russian ballistic missile attacks and continues to seek additional interceptor missiles from its allies.

Ahead of this week's NATO summit in Ankara, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to partner countries to provide more interceptor missiles from their existing stockpiles.

According to Bloomberg, the Netherlands has already allocated €9.1 billion (approximately $10.4 billion) in military support for Ukraine and has earmarked an additional €11.6 billion for future assistance.

The Dutch government has also committed €1 billion to the PURL initiative, under which European allies finance the procurement of US-made weapons for Ukraine.

By Vafa Guliyeva