Statement by the President of Ukraine During a Joint Press Conference with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands

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Mr. Prime Minister, dear Dick,

Dear attendees,

Dear journalists,

Today, we welcome Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mr. Schoof to Ukraine, and I thank him for his unwavering attention to and support for Ukraine. The Netherlands is one of the most principled defenders of life - a nation that provides truly significant assistance to us, our defense, our resilience, and, which is also very important, our work to achieve justice. Russia's war against Ukraine is completely unprovoked and unjust. And ultimately those responsible for starting this war must be held to account - starting with Putin, but not ending with him alone. Just now, as our meeting began, we received a report on a Russian strike on our city of Sumy - a drone strike on the building of a maternity hospital. Fortunately, people were in shelters - the staff, 35 women, and 11 children. Fortunately, this time there were no casualties. This is one of the many strikes Russia carries out every day against our cities and villages. The Russians do not even try to conceal the fact that all Ukrainian life is a target for them. They launch these drones, aerial bombs and missiles on the orders of their Putin, but these orders are carried out by other people. Every one of those Russian killers is a war criminal. All must be held accountable. That is why one of the areas of our joint work with the Netherlands, as well as with our other partners, involves legal mechanisms that can ensure real accountability for Russian war criminals - for every murderer - and full compensation for the damage Ukraine has suffered as a result of Russian aggression. We also discussed this issue today, and I am grateful for the Dutch team's support.

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And I thank you for being principled when it comes to sanctions against Russia for this war. In particular, we expect the adoption of the European Union's 19th sanctions package and continued strong joint pressure on Russia's war machine - above all on Russia's revenues from energy trade and on sanction-evasion schemes. We should also take a much tougher stance toward Russia's use of the Baltic Sea for tanker transits and other activities. If the Russians do not want to end the war and stop their hybrid attacks against Europeans, then the desire for peace must be cultivated in them through appropriate pressure and restrictions.

I have just informed the Prime Minister about the current situation in Ukraine - what is happening in our regions and on the battlefield. Ukraine deeply values every format of defense support provided by the Netherlands. This includes military aid packages that have contained Patriots and F-16s. We also appreciate the Netherlands' participation in such undoubtedly important initiatives as PURL, which enables us to purchase American weapons - the scarce ones that Europe itself does not have. Today, the Prime Minister and I opened the third Defense Industries Forum - a forum that shows how much we can achieve together with our key partners for Ukraine's security and for our collective security overall. Our Ukrainian weaponry is among the most effective in Europe, and we are ready to produce far more modern weapons. To do that, we need appropriate financing. I thank the Netherlands for supporting our production programs. We are preparing new agreements on our joint defense manufacturing, including drones. The Netherlands is an active participant in the Ramstein format and in our global Coalition of the Willing, which will serve as the foundation for multilateral security guarantees for Ukraine and for all of Europe. We are working toward the full launch of this system and count on the participation and active support of the Netherlands.

Today, we also discussed important energy issues for our country - the energy challenges Ukraine faces due to Russian strikes on our energy infrastructure. I asked the Netherlands to consider providing us with additional assistance, and I am grateful for that.

It is important that our political cooperation continues, particularly at the level of the European Union. Ukraine is ready to open the clusters - we have done our part of the work - and we expect a corresponding step from the European side. Europe can be a truly strong global player only without artificial divisions and barriers, only in unity. Today, we paid a great deal of attention to this matter, and I am grateful to the Netherlands for its readiness to continue standing with Ukraine and with all other Europeans in defending our shared values and our way of life.

Thank you very much, dear Dick, for this visit. This is far from the first visit to Ukraine - there have been visits to Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv. And although it is not the first visit to Ukraine, it is the first visit to the capital. Thank you for your personal support.

Glory to Ukraine!

ph	President Meets with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands in Kyiv 6 October 2025 - 13:58