Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans believes that the Russian-Ukrainian war will not end either this year or next. According to him, we should not build unreasonable expectations and look at the future, Hromadske reports.
He said this in an interview with the Lithuanian news agency LRT.
According to him, Ukraine needs to be provided with as much military support as possible, but Brekelmans believes that we should “be realistic” because the situation on the battlefield is very difficult.
This means that we have to do more, but we also have to not get our expectations too high, because sometimes people think that the Russian invasion was a sprint that turned into a marathon, but it’s actually a 42-kilometer sprint. […] We have to look at the long term and be sure that the people of Europe will remain ready to support Ukraine, – the Dutch Defense Minister said.
At the same time, the official noted that the Russian army is “very powerful”, and therefore it is necessary to “take the Russian threat very seriously”.
Russian threats are very diverse, and we must invest heavily to protect ourselves from these threats and to deter Russia from any other aggression, – Ruben Brekelmans said.
The Netherlands has recently lifted restrictions on Ukraine’s use of its weapons, including F-16 fighter jets, against military targets in Russia. However, they allow Kyiv to use its weapons on the territory of Russia as part of the right to self-defense under international law.
