The Dutch government pledged €500 million (about $580 million) in new military aid to Ukraine on Wednesday, covering drones and air defense equipment in one of the largest single Dutch contributions since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022. The package was announced by Defense Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius in The Hague, according to the Dutch Ministry of Defense, during a visit by her Ukrainian counterpart Mykhailo Fedorov. JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The package is split equally: €250 million (about $289 million) will go toward purchasing drones from Dutch defense manufacturers, while the remainder will be contributed to the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative, a NATO-supported mechanism supplying Ukraine with weapons not able to be delivered through other channels. “Our drone companies are incredibly innovative and supply equipment that makes a direct difference for the brave Ukrainian military at the front,” Yeşilgöz-Zegerius said. “We see that the murderous Putin regime is not successful on the battlefield and therefore intensifies its terror attacks by air. Air defense is now more important than ever for the Ukrainians,” she added, explaining the rationale behind the additional PURL contribution. The new pledge brings the Netherlands’ total contribution to PURL to €1 billion (about $1.2 billion). Dutch support for Ukraine’s drone sector has also been substantial since the early stages of the war, including contributions to the Drone Line Initiative, through which hundreds of thousands of drones have been made available to Ukrainian forces at the front.