President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte have had the first phone conversation of the year.

Zelenskyy has pointed out that he informed Rutte about the risks of escalation at the front and potential challenges, as well as Ukraine's defence needs for an adequate response.

"We count on concrete steps by partners to maximise Ukraine's reinforcement at the next Ramstein," he wrote.

I had a phone call with 🇳🇱 PM @MinPres. Spoke about the risk of escalation at the front and potential challenges, as well as our defense needs for an adequate response. We count on concrete steps by partners to maximize Ukraine's reinforcement at the next Ramstein.

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 3, 2023

The Prime Minister of the Netherlands has stated that Ukraine has been resisting open Russian aggression for almost a year.

"The coming months will be crucial. I just spoke with President Zelenskyy and assured him that the Netherlands will do everything to help Ukraine not only resist but win the war," Rutte tweeted.

📞: Oekraïne houdt al bijna een jaar stand tegen de barbaarse Russische invasie. De komende maanden worden cruciaal. Ik sprak zojuist met @ZelenskyyUa en heb hem ervan verzekerd dat 🇳🇱 alles zal doen om te helpen dat 🇺🇦 niet alleen weerstand kan bieden, maar de oorlog zal winnen.

— Mark Rutte (@MinPres) January 3, 2023

Zelenskyy had his first conversation of the new year with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.