Ukrainian President Zelensky believes that the spring offensive that the Ukrainian army is currently preparing will be successful, he also said at the press conference with Dutch Prime Minister Rutte and Belgian Prime Minister De Croo. “We don’t think about failing. That’s not how we are.”
He also reaffirmed his country’s NATO ambitions, although he says he wants to be “realistic”. “We know we will not join during the war. But we want the signal that we will join after the war.” At the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, Zelensky wants steps to be taken in that direction, which Rutte agreed.
The Ukrainian president also called again for the delivery of F-16 fighter jets, or at least for the commitment of training missions for Ukrainian pilots, who are used only to Soviet-era fighter jets. Rutte called the delivery of F-16s “no taboo”. “We are working in that direction. We are not there yet, but we have also seen that debate around the delivery of howitzers and tanks. They are now in Ukraine.”
Zelensky is also looking for additional military support in our region to boost his army’s reserves, as Kiev is preparing a counter-offensive against Russia. “It is not so easy to travel to other countries, because I do not want to demotivate our people at the front,” he said in the Catshuis, the official residence of the Dutch prime minister. “But I have to be here, to be stronger on the battlefield. And to bring bad news to Russia. I am in The Hague. Yesterday I was in Finland. That is not far,” it sounded.
Zelensky believes that his forces’ spring offensive will be successful. “All our companies, all of society, are doing everything they can to strengthen the military. We have only one target. We don’t think about failing. That’s not how we are made,” he said. At the same time, there is no success when you lose people on the battlefield, he also said. “Even if you win somewhere, you lose.”
After a lunch with Rutte and De Croo, the Ukrainian president visits a weapons depot from which Dutch military material is brought to Ukraine. He is expected in Berlin on May 13.
