Netherlands also delivers drones to Ukraine as accidentally revealed.
The Dutch ministry of defence has, aside from various other forms of military support, also delivered drones to Ukraine. That information was accidentally revealed in the cabinet’s Spring Memorandum (voorjaarsnota), as reported by the minister Ollongren in a letter to the House of Representatives. These are not armed combat drones, as the Dutch army does not have any of those as of yet.
NATO had already requested its members to be very reticent about sharing information on their military support to Ukraine. The dutch Cabinet did not want the delivery of the drones to become public information for that very reason. However, because of an as of yet unknown reason, the information was added to the Spring Memorandum.
**Over 130 million euro’s in support.**
Moreover, the Memorandum mentioned an incorrect sum. The ministry of Defence had reported in the Spring Memorandum that there is currently 73 million euro’s of military goods, drones and field hospitals being delivered. A spokesperson for the ministry has explained to the NOS that this was an ‘older sum’.
Mid-may, when the Spring Memorandum was being sent, there was already a support of 102 million euro’s in military support sent to Ukraine. Ollongren has now written that the Netherlands has delivered over 130,4 million euro’s in material support.
The ministry of Defence cannot add any additional information about which drones have been sent to Ukraine, or how many. Presumably, these are reconnaissance drones.
The Dutch army has many different drones available, from the tiny PD-100 black hornet (about the size of a hornet) to the MQ-9 Reaper with a wingspan of 20 metres. Since the beginning of this year, the Netherlands is in possession of four of these Reapers.
The drones are not yet armed, but a majority of the House of Representatives wants them to be. Moreover, four extra reapers will be added and armed in the nearby future, as was revealed in the recently published Defence Memorandum.
**Panzerhaubitze training at full speed.**
More information has been revealed about the five Panzerhaubitze that the Netherlands has promised to Ukraine. These mobile artillery canons, with a range of up to 50 kilometres have not yet been deployed to the battlefields.
Ukranian militaries are currently being trained in Germany to use the Panzerhaubitze. Ollongren was unable to report on when this procedure has finished and the armed vehicles will be deployed to Ukraine. She did say that the training is going well.
With the announcement that the Netherlands would be supplying Panzerhaubitze, there was an explicit message added that it would take a while before they could be properly deployed as these are advanced weapons that need more than merely learning how to aim and shoot them.
**Heavy weaponry.**
Since the start of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, the west has been steadily supplying heavier weapons to Kyiv. At first, the Netherlands was supplying shard vests, helmets, and sniper rifles. The Panzerhaubitze are as far as publicly known the heaviest weapons the Netherlands has promised to Ukraine.
**Bombs secured to consumer drones.**
Earlier this week the NOS reported that Ukrainian forces were using consumer drones to attack the Russian army. Antitank grenades are being secured to these unmanned drones and are directly dropped on army units. By filming and publishing the footage only the Ukrainian forces are able to bring in more sponsors to finance their battles.
Source: [https://nos.nl/artikel/2432074-nederland-levert-ook-drones-aan-oekraine-per-ongeluk-bekend-geworden](https://nos.nl/artikel/2432074-nederland-levert-ook-drones-aan-oekraine-per-ongeluk-bekend-geworden)