President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Netherlands will fully train the Ukrainian crew of the Alkmaar-class mine countermeasures ship Zr. Ms. Makkum and will transfer it to Ukraine in June.
The head of state announced this following a meeting with servicemen of the Ukrainian Navy in the Netherlands, which he visited together with the country's Prime Minister Rob Etten.
According to him, the ship will be named “Genichesk” – in honor of the Ukrainian minesweeper, which was lost while performing a combat mission in the summer of 2022 near the Kinburn Spit.
“The Netherlands will fully prepare the crew and hand over the ship to Ukraine in June… This is the fifth ship in our future mine-fighting fleet and the second from the Netherlands,” Zelensky said.
The President's Office added that he presented the Chief of Defense of the Netherlands, Onno Eichelsheim, with the Order of Merit, 3rd degree, and awarded seven Ukrainian defenders with the medals “For Military Service to Ukraine” and “Defender of the Fatherland.”
This ship is the fifth among those that Ukraine will receive. The first four were handed over by Great Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands. They are called “Cherkasy”, “Chernihiv”, “Mariupol” and “Melitopol”. Two of them are of the Sandown class, two more, like the future “Genichesk”, are Alkmaar.
All five ships will be based in the United Kingdom for the time being, and after the end of the war they will participate in mine clearance and significantly strengthen the capabilities of the Ukrainian Navy.
On April 16, Zelensky paid an official visit to the Netherlands, where he met with the country's Prime Minister Rob Etienne. The politicians signed a defense partnership agreement.
Zelenskyy's previous visits
On April 14, Zelensky paid an official visit to Berlin and met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Following the visit, Merz announced that Germany would provide Ukraine with new military assistance packages that would include air defense systems, long-range weapons, drones, and ammunition.
In the evening of the same day, Zelensky arrived in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, where he met with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. The parties signed a declaration on defense partnership.
On April 15, the President met with the Speaker of the Norwegian Storting, Masoud Garahani, and leaders of political parties, during which they discussed the work on preparing the Drone Deal between the countries and the issue of creating a Special Tribunal for the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine and the necessary steps to launch it.
On the same day, he flew to Italy and agreed with the country's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that the Ukrainian and Italian sides would work out the details of a security agreement in the drone deal format. In addition to Meloni, he also met with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Defense Minister Guido Crosetto.