Netherlands to send $202 million military aid to Ukraine, expands drone cooperation

Netherlands to send $202 million military aid to Ukraine, expands drone cooperation
A fire is seen after a Russian strike on Kyiv, Ukraine. (AP)
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Updated 25 June 2025

Netherlands to send $202 million military aid to Ukraine, expands drone cooperation

Netherlands to send $202 million military aid to Ukraine, expands drone cooperation

THE HAGUE: The Netherlands will provide Ukraine with 100 drone-detection radars and 20 medical evacuation vehicles as part of a new €175 million ($202 million) aid package, Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said on Tuesday.

Delivery of the radars, which will help identify incoming drones and relay data to air defense systems, is expected to be completed by year-end.

In a statement on Friday, the Dutch Defense Ministry specified that 80 million euros of the package will go toward drone support through the international drone coalition.

The move on Tuesday follows a 500 million euro deal to produce 600,000 drones with the Ukrainian defense industry, Brekelmans said ahead of a NATO Summit in The Hague.

The Netherlands has pledged about 10 billion euros in military support for Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in early 2022.


Pilot error caused deadly Bangladesh jet crash: govt

Updated 17 sec ago

Pilot error caused deadly Bangladesh jet crash: govt

Pilot error caused deadly Bangladesh jet crash: govt
“There was an error in his take-off,” Yunus’s press secretary Shafiqul Alam told reporters.
More than 170 people were injured in the crash, many badly burned

DHAKA: Pilot error was to blame when a fighter jet smashed into a Bangladesh school in July, killing 36 people in the country’s worst aviation crash in decades, the government said on Wednesday.
Pupils had just been let out of class when the Chinese-made F-7 BJI aircraft slammed into the private Milestone School and College in Dhaka on July 21.
The government announced the findings of a committee report into the crash after it was submitted to the interim leader, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus.
“There was an error in his take-off,” Yunus’s press secretary Shafiqul Alam told reporters.
More than 170 people were injured in the crash, many badly burned.
The military had initially said that the 27-year-old pilot was on a routine training mission when the jet “reportedly encountered a mechanical failure.”
He tried to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas but crashed into the two-story school building.
The crash sparked anger and demands that the air force shift its training programs from the densely populated capital.
The air force had initially rejected those demands, saying a base in the capital was important for strategic reasons.
However, Alam said the report recommended that the air force “conduct its training outside Dhaka.”
It also advised that the Civil Aviation Authority ensure “infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, warehouses, and small industries are not built near airports.”