THE HAGUE, July 10 The Netherlands has decided to allocate 300 million euros to purchase ammunition for F-16 fighters, which will be sent to Ukraine, the country's Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“The Netherlands is allocating an additional 300 million euros for the purchase of ammunition for the F-16, which the Netherlands will soon supply, including to Ukraine. This amount will be in addition to the 150 million euros that were previously reserved for this purpose,” the statement published on the website of the Ministry of Defense.
It is noted that the corresponding announcement was made on Wednesday by Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans during the NATO summit in Washington.
The Netherlands will provide 18 F-16 fighters to the European F-16 training center in Romania until the end of 2025.
The former head of the Dutch Ministry of Defense, Kaisa Ollongren, said in the last days of the work of the previous cabinet that the country's authorities have issued permission to export 24 F-16 fighters to Ukraine, the first batch of which will be delivered soon. Russian Ambassador to the Netherlands Vladimir Tarabrin said that Moscow views the issued permit for the export of F-16s to Ukraine as a conscious move by The Hague towards escalating the conflict and destabilizing the situation. He emphasized that F-16 fighters, as well as the airfields from which they take off, will be considered by the Russian Federation as legitimate targets during the air strike.
Russia believes that arms supplies to Ukraine interfere with the settlement, directly involve NATO countries in the conflict and are “playing with fire.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. According to him, the United States and NATO are directly involved in the conflict, including not only by supplying weapons, but also by training personnel in the UK, Germany, Italy and other countries. The Kremlin stated that pumping Ukraine up with weapons from the West does not contribute to negotiations and will have a negative effect.