Extract from ABC News
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised Australia will provide further military aid to Ukraine after visiting war-ravaged towns near Kyiv.
Key points:
- The Prime Minister's visit follows last week's NATO summit in Madrid
- He visited the war-ravaged towns of Bucha and Irpin and met with the Ukrainian President
- Mr Albanese announced Australia would provide an additional $100 million in military support
Mr Albanese visited the towns of Bucha and Irpin, as well as Hostomel airport — known sites of brutal mass killings committed by Russian forces that have been examined by war crimes investigators.
Accompanied by the Governor of Kyiv Oblast, Oleksiy Kuleba, Mr Albanese appeared disturbed by the destruction.
"Here we have what's clearly a residential building," he said.
"Another one just behind it, brutally assaulted.
Mr Albanese said the damage wrought upon residential neighbourhoods was heartbreaking.
"These are homes and these are livelihoods and indeed lives that have been lost here in this town,” he said.
“And the fact that you had such a significant force — you can see the use of tanks, missiles, heavy artillery being used in a civilian area — it's just devastating."
The Prime Minister later met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
During a joint press conference, he said Australia would provide Ukraine with an additional $100 million in military aid.
"Australia stands ready to continue to support the [Ukrainian] government and the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes," Mr Albanese said.
The Australian support includes 34 additional armoured vehicles, including 20 Bushmasters, and other technical equipment such as drones Ukraine requested.
He said Australia would now also join countries such as the UK, US and Canada in banning Russian gold imports to restrict the movement of assets that could help fund the war, as well slap additional sanctions and travel bans on 16 Russian ministers and oligarchs.
The Prime Minister commended the leadership of Mr Zelenskyy and reiterated Australia's support for Ukraine.
"I pay tribute to the courage, resilience, bravery and determination of you as the leader of Ukraine," he said.
"Australia stands ready to continue to support the government and the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes."
Mr Albanese joins a long list of prime ministers and presidents who have visited Ukraine, including the leaders of Germany, France, Italy, Indonesia, the United Kingdom and Canada.
Despite several countries placing sanctions on Russia and ever-growing calls for Russia's President Vladimir Putin to step back, Russia continues its attacks on Ukraine, with a shopping mall targeted by a missile strike less than a week ago.
Earlier this year, Mr Zelenskyy addressed federal parliament and asked Australia to provide Bushmasters which have since been sent to Ukraine.
In his most recent public address, ahead of meeting with Mr Albanese, Mr Zelenskyy issued a worldwide request for international humanitarian aid.
"It is necessary not only to repair everything the occupiers have destroyed but also to create a new foundation for our lives: safe, modern, comfortable, accessible," he said.
His call comes just ahead of the international Ukraine Recovery Conference that will be held in Switzerland.
Australia has already provided millions of dollars in humanitarian aid and military assistance.
News of additional government support came as Ukraine's ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, called for Canberra to provide additional ammunition and Bushmaster vehicles.
Mr Albanese's trip to Ukraine follows his attendance at the NATO summit in Madrid, where European world leaders, as well as those from New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and the United States labelled Russia the biggest "direct threat" to Western security.
In the latest from the region, Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from Lysychansk, the final Ukrainian holdout, but vowed to restore control over the area.
Mr Zelenskyy acknowledged this on Sunday during his nightly video address.
"If the commanders of our army withdraw people from certain points at the front, where the enemy has the greatest advantage in fire power, and this also applies to Lysychansk, it means only one thing: that we will return thanks to our tactics, thanks to the increase in the supply of modern weapons," Mr Zelenskyy said.
After fierce Ukrainian resistance prevented Russia seizing Kyiv after its February 24 invasion, Moscow turned its focus to taking full control of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.
Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting in the area since Russia's first military intervention in Ukraine in 2014.
ABC/AP
No comments:
Post a Comment