THE HAGUE, June 17. /TASS/. The Netherlands will provide a new package of military aid to Ukraine worth 500 million euro, but half of that money will be allocated to purchase drones produced by Dutch companies, Dutch Defense Minister Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius said.

"At this point, air defense is more important than ever for the Ukrainians," the De Telegraaf newspaper quoted her as saying.

In her words, 250 million euro will be used to purchase drones from Dutch manufacturers. The other 250 will be allocated to America’s Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) program, which finances arms deliveries to the Kiev government.

The newspaper’s sources say the money will go to purchase interceptor missiles, ammunition for F-16 fighter jets and unmanned systems. The ministry said the Netherlands has already delivered to Ukraine "hundreds of thousands of drones."

The newspaper reported that during Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov’s current visit to the Netherlands, the sides also signed an agreement on cooperation in defense innovations. The document envisages "combining the research and market potential" of the two countries to expedite the development of advanced solutions in the defense sector.

In Yesilgoz-Zegerius’s opinion, cooperation with Kiev serves the interests of the Netherlands.

"It is good for our security, good for our economy and good for our own armed forces, because the Ukrainians share their knowledge and experience with us. We will use it for the benefit of our own armed forces," the minister said.

In her words, the Dutch government plans "to use Ukraine’s experience in the use of drones and other advanced technologies in combat to improve its own armed forces."

The Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, has repeatedly said that Western aid to Kiev would not influence the course of hostilities and that Russian forces would systematically destroy Western weapons.