Europe was wrong to scale down its defence capabilities in the years and decades preceding the Ukraine war, Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD/Renew) said during a speech on Veteran’s Day on Saturday.
Rutte held his speech in front of Dutch veterans, current soldiers, politicians and civil society actors in the Royal Theatre in The Hague, where he also touched on the war in Ukraine.
“We felt so secure as a society that we thought perhaps defence could be scaled down. We were wrong,” Rutte was cited by NOS.
“Since the end of World War II, peace in Europe has never been under more pressure than now,” he added.
Rutte also thanked Dutch servicemen and -women worldwide for contributing to military training purposes, especially in Ukraine.
On Friday, Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren (D66/Renew) announced the Netherlands would invest an additional €1 million to rehabilitate wounded Ukrainian soldiers.
Accompanied by Ukrainian Minister of Veterans Affairs, Yulia Laputina, Ollongren visited a group of recovering Ukrainian soldiers in the Military Rehabilitation Centre (MRC), Doorn.
“It is you who are fighting, and you are also fighting for us. When I look into your eyes, I see strong men,” Ollongren stated during the visit.
About 14 rehabilitating soldiers from Ukraine are currently being treated at the MRC, with 32 having undergone treatment there since late 2021.
Laputina stated that the two countries would continue to strengthen and fine-tune their cooperation in soldier rehabilitation.
“We understand that we need our defenders not only to undergo rehabilitation in the Netherlands. […] We are […] negotiating to enable training missions for our rehabilitation therapists and psychologists to rehabilitation centres in the Netherlands to share their experience and to develop new techniques for our specialists,” she stated.
Laputina added that the two countries are also looking into the joint development of rehabilitation centres on Ukrainian grounds.
(Benedikt Stöckl | EURACTIV.com)
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