The Dutch government has allocated a new military aid package to Ukraine and will also finance the purchase of artillery shells found by Czechia.

The report from the Dutch Defence Ministry suggests that the Netherlands will provide Ukraine with 14 rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIBs), eight paramilitary river patrol boats and CB90 combat boats.

The country is also allocating €250 million for a Czech initiative to order 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine "in the short term".

The Dutch Ministry of Defence noted that it had supplied Ukraine with various types of ammunition, radar systems and certain types of weapons, such as rifles and machine guns, as of early December 2023.

At the Munich Security Conference, Czech President Petr Pavel announced that Czechia had found up to 800,000 NATO standard-calibre shells that it could send to Ukraine in a few weeks if it received funding for delivery.

The Czech Defence Ministry said it was coordinating the effort and had secured tentative commitments from Canada and Denmark, as well as other countries that preferred not to be named.

Moreover, on 1 March, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte arrived in Kharkiv and signed a bilateral security agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.