Belgium is funding the training of Ukrainian aviation technicians through the Belgian company Sabin Engineering, as well as the training of Ukrainian pilots, and is establishing connections with Ukrainian manufacturers, stated the Minister of Defense of Belgium, Ludivine Dedonder.
She made these remarks while speaking with a correspondent from Radio Liberty at the Defense Industry Forum held in Brussels.
"In addition, we have other contacts that have been established, including with firms such as Thales, FN Herstal, John Cockerill, and several other companies, as well as at the European level, because our goal is truly to strengthen our complementarity between Europeans and Ukraine," said the Belgian minister.
According to her, Brussels supports Ukraine's defense capability through taxes on profits from frozen Russian assets. The largest share of funds from the Central Bank of Russia (approximately 190 billion euros) is frozen in Belgium, under the control of the clearing company Euroclear.
"We have decided to use the tax on profits from frozen Russian assets to assist Ukraine, and today this is purely Belgian military aid. We have a budget of 1.2 billion euros to support Ukraine. We have just made a decision regarding, among other things, support for Germany's initiatives regarding air defense, as well as supplying ammunition from our own stocks for air defense," Dedonder said.
