Netherlands was too slow to help Ukraine after Russia invasion: caretaker Foreign Min.
The Netherlands, and other European countries, were too slow and cautious in offering support to Ukraine when Russia invaded in February 2022, David van Weel told the Telegraaf in his last interview as caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Schoof I Cabinet. “We were naive about how the world works and how dictators like Putin view it,” he said.
At the start, Europe supported Ukraine mostly with pompous declarations of solidarity, only gradually moving to concrete support like helmets, flak jackets, and, eventually, heavy weapons.
“We should have acted more quickly from the start in response to what we saw happening. We should have overcome our own taboos sooner,” Van Weel said. For the Netherlands, it was mainly the risk that Dutch weapons would end up in Russian hands, he said. “But as the severity of this war became clearer, we took all the steps to ultimately fully support Ukraine.”
“The fact is that we took our time with every extra step we took. The question was always asked: wouldn’t that be crossing a red line with Russia?” Van Weel said, referring to concerns about turning the war into a Russia vs NATO conflict. But four years later, that hasn’t happened. “I don’t think Russia wants that at all. But I do think we’ve unnecessarily deterred ourselves. As if there were too many red lines. Russia capitalized on that. But the fact is that every step we’ve taken hasn’t led to a counter-reaction from Russia.”
Van Weel thinks the Netherlands’ current support of around €7 billion per year is enough to “keep Ukraine afloat,” but he wonders how the next government will keep that up with the looming need to make significant budget cuts. "I'm quite concerned about that. The Netherlands has been one of Ukraine's top donors recently. A small number of countries are providing the bulk of the aid, and quite a few countries are failing to do so. You never know when wars will end. Let's hope a peace deal is reached soon. That's in our interest too."
“Initially, people thought that this would be a war of three days or a few weeks. Four years have passed now. With enormous losses on both sides. And look what Russia has achieved with it: it conquered 0.7 percent of Ukraine last year.” The fact that Ukraine is holding out is “thanks to our support and the courage and ingenuity of Ukrainians,” Van Weel said.
“If Ukraine loses this conflict, it will ultimately be a much bigger problem for our own security, with flows of refugees and lost agricultural land. Moreover, you’ll be setting a precedent: the aggressor will win, because Western Europe will give up again,” the caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs said. “That should motivate us to do what we can.”
