Ukraine is "realistic", "we will not join NATO during the war", Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday during an unannounced visit to the Netherlands. "We want to receive a very clear message that we will be in NATO after the war", declared after a meeting with the Belgian and Dutch Prime Ministers the President of Ukraine, who applied for NATO .
"We hope that the Netherlands and our other partners will help as soon as possible," Volodymyr Zelensky said, referring to a "coalition of armed vehicles", one of Ukraine's demands on the field of battle. The Netherlands has so far given or pledged €1.2 billion in military support to Ukraine.
This included 45 T-72 tanks, armored personnel carriers and at least 100 Leopard-1 tanks, with Denmark and Germany, as well as 14 Leopard 2 tanks with Denmark. "We support Ukraine's ambition in NATO," added Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutter, indicating that EU accession required following a "clear process" dependent on Brussels. Volodymyr Zelensky is also due to visit a Dutch military base later on Thursday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for the creation of a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression, calling for "full-scale justice" not "hybrid impunity". "There should be accountability" for this crime of aggression, the "beginning of evil", Volodymyr Zelensky said during a speech to diplomats and other officials in The Hague, referring to the invasion of his country by Russia. "It can only be enforced by the court," the Ukrainian president added. But Ukraine "will not accept either a hybrid peace or a hybrid tribunal" envisaged by other allies of Ukraine, he stressed, however.
