Zelensky to visit Netherlands, address parliament and meet king

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will visit the Netherlands on Tuesday where he will address both houses of parliament and hold talks with the caretaker prime minister before meeting king Willem-Alexander.

The president is due to speak in The Hague to members of the senate and the lower house of parliament, the government information service (RVD) said. He will then meet caretaker prime minister Dick Schoof.

Zelensky is scheduled to have lunch with Schoof, foreign minister David van Weel and defence minister Ruben Brekelmans at the prime minister’s official Catshuis residence. In the afternoon, he will be received by the king at Huis ten Bosch palace in The Hague.

It will be the fourth time Zelensky has addressed the lower house of parliament. On 31 March 2022, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he became the first foreign head of government to address a plenary session of the chamber, speaking via video link. His most recent address was last summer during the Nato summit in The Hague.

Zelensky is currently in Berlin, where he is holding talks with European allies and a US delegation on efforts to end the war with Russia. On Wednesday, he said he was prepared to forego Nato membership in exchange for western security guarantees.