Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof has paid his first and probably last visit to Kyiv, reaffirming Dutch support for Ukraine just three weeks ahead of the general election at home.

Schoof arrived in the Ukrainian capital on Monday morning as Russian forces stepped up attacks on railways and other infrastructure.

Together with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, he laid a wreath at a wall of photographs of fallen Ukrainian soldiers. “It makes you humble,” he said, describing the long rows of faces as “horrific.”

The trip had already been postponed once, after Schoof’s government collapsed in August.

At the presidential palace, Schoof said seeing the damage in Kyiv had strengthened his conviction that Europe must keep resisting Russian aggression. “Russia’s war is everyone’s problem,” he is quoted as saying by the AD.

The Netherlands has already committed around €20 billion in military and financial support. Ukrainian officials told the AD Schoof’s visit showed genuine personal involvement, and cooperation between the two countries’ defence industries is expanding, particularly in drone production.

The two leaders also discussed Ukraine’s stalled EU membership talks.

During the meeting, Zelensky presented Schoof with a national honour to thank the Netherlands for its help. “Dear Dick,” he said, “the Netherlands is one of our strongest defence partners. We appreciate this enormously.”