The Netherlands has run out of “opportunities” to provide direct military assistance to Kiev, its defense minister has said
The Netherlands has run out of options for continued direct military assistance to Ukraine, Defense Minister Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius has said. The EU and NATO member has been an active supporter of Kiev in its conflict with Moscow, including by supplying US-made F-16 fighter jets as part of a scheme with Belgium, Denmark, and Norway.
Ukraine has been heavily dependent on weapons supplies from its Western backers throughout most of the conflict, which is now in its fifth year.
“We don’t have opportunities any more as the Netherlands because we have done so much,” Yesilgoz-Zegerius told Bloomberg on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Türkiye, on Tuesday.
“We are at our limit,” she added when asked specifically about whether the Netherlands could provide more US-made Patriot missiles to Kiev.
The Netherlands has spent €9.1 billion ($10.4 billion) on military assistance to Ukraine and pledged €11.6 billion more, according to Bloomberg estimates. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has repeatedly demanded that Western nations send Kiev more weapons while claiming they are not doing enough.
In January, the Ukrainian leader blamed the West for what he called air defense missile shortages, and complained that Kiev’s backers were too slow to provide funding for the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) scheme, under which European NATO members were paying for US-made weapons for Ukraine.
In December 2025, Zelensky also demanded more money from the West by stating there was “a constant shortage” of funding for Ukrainian arms production.
The Netherlands is not the first to declare it has reached its limit in providing direct assistance to Kiev. Czech President Petr Pavel stated as early as in 2023 that his nation could no longer supply Ukraine with weapons and ammunition from its stockpiles. A year later, Poland also said it had “hit the wall” with direct Ukraine military aid.
Other European NATO members are also seemingly growing weary of funneling money and weapons into Kiev’s military effort. Last week, Germany’s FAZ newspaper reported that Italy has blocked a NATO financial pledge to Ukraine for 2027 after the bloc signed off on a €70 billion ($80 billion) package this year. Last month, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told parliament that Rome would not back the PURL scheme.
Russia has repeatedly condemned continued Western arms shipments to Ukraine, arguing that they only prolong the conflict without changing its outcome. Moscow also stated that military assistance is evidence of NATO becoming a direct party to the conflict, warning that this risks a direct confrontation between Russia and the bloc.
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