On the canals of Amsterdam, Dutch volunteers demonstrated a water drone that will be delivered to Ukraine, primarily for rescue and logistical missions.

As a Ukrinform correspondent in The Hague reports, the system was developed by a group of four volunteers after one of their colleagues, who was in Ukraine near Dnipro, encountered difficulties delivering essential supplies to military personnel.

“The water drone is equipped with a remote-control system, cameras and can operate via Starlink satellite communications. In addition to manual control, it has an autonomous mode that allows users to plan a route in advance. The boat can reach a maximum speed of 60 km/h, and its design is modular. This allows the platform to be adapted for different tasks and fitted with additional equipment.

“We developed it primarily for rescue missions, delivering essential supplies and evacuating people. But it can also be used for tactical missions. It all depends on the needs. We provide the basic version, but it is fully modular. Essentially, you can create any functions the user needs,” Otto Kooy, a volunteer with the Protect Ukraine foundation, told Ukrinform in an exclusive comment.

He stressed that the platform can also be used for other tasks depending on the needs of Ukrainian defenders.

According to Kooy, the developers have already delivered three such boats to Kyiv and plan to conduct a demonstration there. After receiving feedback from Ukrainian military personnel, the system will be adapted to the needs of the units that will use it in the field.

One of the water drone’s main advantages, according to the developer, is its payload capacity.

“It can potentially carry up to 1,000 kilograms of cargo, making it suitable for logistical operations on water,” he said.

The volunteer also noted that the basic version of the system costs around EUR 45,000, although the final price depends on the configuration and additional equipment.

“I see it as a controllable Jeep on water,” he said, explaining the concept behind the development.

According to Kooy, the volunteers want to keep the system as affordable and simple to manufacture as possible so that Ukrainian units can eventually be supplied with the water drones in significant numbers.

Meanwhile, Dutch volunteer and co-founder of the Protect Ukraine foundation Jaap Scholten said the idea of developing water drones emerged in 2023, “when Ukrainian defenders told us they were having problems delivering food, supplies and everything necessary to the soldiers who were on the other side of the river.

“Then the idea came up: could we create a drone that could deliver food and medical supplies and also evacuate the wounded? Since we work with a large number of engineers from Delft, I asked one of them whether we could develop such a water drone. That is how we started.

“A group of Dutch engineers developed the water drone, and we have already delivered four of them to Ukraine. We are continuing to improve them so that they become increasingly effective. Now we want to deliver new versions and demonstrate them to Ukrainian units that can use such drones on rivers.”

According to Scholten, “if we receive orders from military units, we would like to involve the Dutch Ministry of Defence, because then, hopefully, we could produce 30-40 of these boats. At that scale, they would become a really powerful tool. At the moment, they are essentially prototypes that we are continuously testing and improving.”

He also said that the volunteers have already delivered around 350 vehicles to Ukraine.

“We have already delivered, I think, around 350 vehicles. But this is not the most important part of our work. It is more of an additional area, because, in my opinion, almost anyone can deliver vehicles. We even try to encourage other people to do it.

“Essentially, anyone can drive a vehicle to Ukraine.

We only provide recommendations on which vehicles are better suited – mainly vehicles without complex electronics and with four-wheel drive. So delivering vehicles is definitely not our main focus.

“We focus on different types of drones and medical support. At Protect Ukraine, we always work according to demand. We have contacts with many military personnel, medics, doctors and NGOs. But our support is focused specifically on the armed forces. We support the Armed Forces of Ukraine because we believe they are the ones who can protect the people and, ultimately, secure Ukraine’s victory in this war,” Scholten said.

As Ukrinform reported, Dutch volunteer Jaap Scholten received the Order of Merit, 3rd Class, for his support of Ukraine.

(C)UKRINFORM 2026