Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on his way to the Netherlands for unannounced visit: Report
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was traveling to the Netherlands on Wednesday evening for a previously unannounced visit, unnamed sources told newswire ANP. Zelenskyy will give a speech in The Hague on Thursday, according to Nieuwsuur. His speech will be titled, “No Peace without Justice.”
The Ukrainian leader arrived in Helsinki, Finland on Wednesday morning for an unannounced meeting with President Sauli Niinistö, Prime Minister Sanna Marin, her expected replacement, Petteri Orpo, and Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto. He then met in Finland with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Icelandic PM Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, and Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson.
During a press conference after the meetings, Zelenskyy said he was seeking support for tougher sanctions against Russia, and more military aid, including anti-aircraft defenses and fighter planes.
The Dutch government's Boeing 737, with registration PH-GOV, departed Helsinki at 8:15 p.m. Central European Summer Time, several flight tracking websites showed. The plane was over Denmark at about 9:30 p.m., and was expected to land at Schiphol Airport at about 10:15 p.m.
The government aircraft initially left the Netherlands on Tuesday afternoon, and landed in Poland. From there, it traveled on to the Finnish capital on Wednesday morning.
The trip will be his first to the Netherlands since taking office on May 20, 2019. The Dutch Cabinet has already committed to providing the equivalent of 2.5 billion euros in support for Ukraine this year, primarily in military aid. A Dutch team of forensic experts and intelligence experts have visited the Ukraine to collect evidence of war crimes there.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague is investigating allegations war crimes following the Russian invasion, and has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his commissioner for children's rights, Maria Alexeyevna Lvova-Belova.
Zelenskyy addressed the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, by video livestream on March 31, 2022. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra have both visited the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, as have other Cabinet members and parliamentarians.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine early last year, Zelenskyy has mainly stayed in his home country, but visited the United States at the end of the year, and has visited France, Poland and the United Kingdom more recently. He was expected to travel to Berlin later this month to meet with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
