Prime minister Mark Rutte and aid minister Liesje Schreinemacher were in Kyiv on Friday for a lightning visit to president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The aim of the visit was show the Netherlands solidarity with Ukraine, officials said.. Next week it is exactly one year since Russian troops invaded the independent country.

Ukraine is also fighting for the freedom, security and values of other countries, Rutte is quoted as telling the Ukrainian leader. ‘That is why the Netherlands will keep supporting Ukraine,’ he said. ‘Whatever is needed, however long it takes, you must win this.’

Rutte and Schreinemacher first laid a wreath at the wall of remembrance in Kyiv before meeting Zelensky and later prime minister Denys Shmyhal. Rutte’s last visit to Ukraine was in July.

Bij de Muur v Herinnering in Kyiv. pic.twitter.com/z7fy1bjbI9

— Jeroen Akkermans (@JeroenAkkermans) February 17, 2023

Dutch military aid to Ukraine has topped €1 billion and last month prime minister Mark Rutte said the Netherlands is prepared to buy tanks it currently leases from Germany and send them to Ukraine, but that he is also open to other ideas.

The Netherlands will also host the European Commission’s special office to collect evidence against Russia for crimes committed in Ukraine. The International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression in Ukraine will coordinate the collection of evidence and become part of the investigation by European crime agency Eurojust.