Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder announced to Belga local media that the Belgian government has agreed on a new tranche of military aid for Ukraine.

This aid package will include armored vehicles and artillery ammunition.

On Friday, the Belgian Council of Ministers approved €412 million worth of defense aid, including ammunition, multi-purpose and armored medical evacuation vehicles.

The first package of military assistance worth €32.9 million is a joint initiative of the Benelux countries. As part of the cooperation, the governments of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg agreed to purchase reconnaissance drones and an unknown number of armored ambulances, which will be modernized before being transferred.

In addition, artillery ammunition worth €373.1 million will be transferred to Ukraine. The ammunition will be sourced from Defence’s own stocks as well as through an international group purchase from various companies.

The statement also states that the Belgian Ministry of Defense will finally deliver about 300 Lynx armored vehicles to Ukraine.

As part of the package, Belgium also pledged to hand over a third Alkmaar-class minesweeper together with the Netherlands, as Militarnyi wrote about earlier.

Belgium will hand over the Narcis ship after performing maintenance to ensure that it is fully ready for service in the Ukrainian Navy.

The total value of the above-mentioned assistance is €412 million, bringing Belgium’s financial assistance to Ukraine to €575.7 million in 2024.

In addition to raising its own funds, Belgium is also considering the possibility of using the €1.7 billion received from frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine’s defense needs.

At the beginning of March, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said that the Belgian government is ready to finance Ukrainian defense contracts from the profits received from frozen Russian assets in Belgium.

“Belgium has declared that it has received €1.7 billion in revenue from Russian assets. Part of these funds were allocated to support Ukrainian refugees in the EU. Belgium is partially ready to finance Ukraine’s needs, including defense,” said Denys Shmyhal.