Netherlands Prepares F-16 Fighter Jet Ammunition Assistance And Reconnaissance Drones For Ukraine Worth IDR 5.9 Trillion

Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren when received by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. (Twitter/@DefensieMin)

JAKARTA - Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren announced the Netherlands would provide Ukraine with assistance for F-16 fighter jet ammunition and advanced reconnaissance drones worth 350 million euros (IDR 5,987,639,889,000), ending the trip to Kyiv.

Speaking at the end of his two-day trip to Ukraine on Wednesday, Defense Minister Ollongren said he came to show solidarity and announced a new aid package.

At a meeting of the Ramstein group attended by Ukrainian allies, Defense Minister Ollongren said 150 million euros would be used to fund air-to-ground missiles that could be fired from the F-16.

Meanwhile, 200 million euros will be used for Intelligence drones, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), according to a press release by the Dutch Ministry of Defense.

The Netherlands had previously pledged military assistance worth 2 billion euros to Ukraine by 2024. Most of the funds will be used to fund ammunition and drones, which Kyiv says are urgently needed to end defeats on the battlefield against Russia.

Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States are known to plan to send the first F-16 fighter jets of dozens of such fighter jets to Ukraine this summer, after holding pilot training programs and donating aircraft.

At Kyiv, Ollongren said the Danish plane would arrive first, but the first Dutch plane would arrive in 2024.

"I am very confident that we will start shipping the F-16 this summer. Denmark first, and we have a schedule. So in the second half of this year the Dutch F-16 will do this," he explained.

Defense Minister Ollongren also said European ammunition production would be increased "significantly" by the end of this year, so that the current deficit in artillery ammunition facing Ukraine will not be repeated.

"We have to be realistic and consider the possibility that this will be a prolonged war, and better plan a long war," he said.

He added that the Dutch armed forces took lessons from the increasing drone war in Ukraine.

"This technology has grown faster than anyone expected two years ago, and we have to learn," he said.

During Minister of Defense Ollongren's visit to eastern Dnipro, Ukrainian military leaders repeated their call to add to the air defense systems, spare parts and ammunition needed to stop the progress of Russian troops with better equipment.