Caretaker PM Schoof calls Zelenskyy after canceling Kyiv trip amid cabinet crisis

Dutch Caretaker Prime Minister Dick Schoof spoke by phone Saturday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after canceling a planned visit to Kyiv because of turmoil in his caretaker cabinet.

Schoof had been scheduled to travel to Ukraine’s capital on Saturday and Sunday but was forced to scrap the trip after Nieuw Sociaal Contract (NSC) ministers quit on Friday.

Schoof wrote on X, previously Twitter, that the call replaced the in-person meeting. However, “I assured him that the Netherlands will continue to support Ukraine without hesitation,” Schoof wrote. “I will come personally to Ukraine as soon as I can to express my support,” Schoof said. "In the meantime, we will keep up the pressure on Russia, for example, by preparing new, robust sanctions."

Then, in a separate post, Schoof congratulated Ukraine on its Independence Day. "Today is Ukraine’s Independence Day. After more than three years since the full-scale invasion and eleven years of war, the Ukrainian people know the value of that independence," Schoof wrote on X.

"Not only at the front, but also in the neighborhoods, villages, and towns where ordinary people refuse to let Russian aggression dictate every aspect of their lives. And they do not stand alone. The Netherlands is with Ukraine," he wrote.

"Because the security of Ukraine is the security of Europe, and thus the Netherlands as well. We will keep supporting Ukraine. Not just on this Independence Day, but every day. Now, and in the future." He ended his message with "Slava Ukraini."