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Vilnius: Anthony Albanese has offered Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky 30 more Bushmaster armoured vehicles following a meeting between the pair on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Lithuania.
The extra contributions will be added to the already 90 protected mobility vehicles which are on the battlefield in Ukraine. Albanese had already announced he would dispatch a surveillance plane to the European war effort.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of NATO.
The prime minister told Zelensky that Australia’s support for the nation’s struggle against Russia will be ongoing, as world leaders promised Kyiv long-term military support as its fights for its future.
Zelensky personally thanked Albanese for Australia’s new commitment of a six-month deployment of the sophisticated Wedgetail reconnaissance plane and 100 military personnel to protect the supply line of military weapons into Ukraine.
The aircraft will provide early warning in the event of any threats outside of Ukraine against the gateway for humanitarian and military assistance.
A Bushmaster heading towards the frontline in Donbas, June 2022. Credit: Kate Geraghty
The Ukrainian president said he was grateful that Australia was standing “shoulder to shoulder” with his countrymen and women and said the contribution of military hardware, particularly the Bushmasters, were “crucial” and “very important on the battlefield”.
Ukraine has been campaigning for several months for access to more of the bushmasters armoured vehicles for its frontline, even enlisting its 2023 Eurovision finalists Tvorchi to perform a song pleading for more of them.
Announced the extra vehicles after the meeting, Albanese said Australia remained “steadfast” in its commitment to support Ukraine.
“We are proud to provide additional Bushmaster vehicles to assist the brave men and women fighting for their home and their nation’s sovereignty,” he said.
“Russia unilaterally launched this illegal and immoral invasion and should withdraw its troops and end the conflict immediately.”
The contribution takes Australia’s provision of Bushmasters to Ukraine to 120.
Australia’s total military assistance to Ukraine is now worth over $710 million and overall assistance approximately $890 million.
This announcement follows the recent donation of 70 assorted military vehicles, a supply of critical 105mm ammunition and a $10 million contribution to the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund.
Albanese was one of a four Indo-Pacific leaders invited to the summit, where he addressed leaders about the ongoing security issues in the region and the ever-increasing assertiveness of China.
The European-North American defence alliance called out Beijing for its support of Russia’s ongoing war of Ukraine while warning its malicious cyberattacks and disinformation were an ongoing security.
Anthony Albanese, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and New Zealand’s Prime Minister Chris Hipkins at the NATO summit.Credit: Getty
Albanese said that in an interconnected world, what occurred in NATO countries also had an impact on the Indo-Pacific.
“This NATO Summit comes unfortunately, with the land war in Ukraine continuing,” he said.
“Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion continues to have a devastating impact on the people of Ukraine. But it also has an impact on the economies around the world with higher inflation, with cost of living pressures and with food security becoming an issue as well.”
NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has increasingly flagged China’s rise as a critical issue for the alliance, as Beijing’s assertiveness begins to challenge Western values and interests.
“China is not our adversary, and we should continue to engage,” Stoltenberg said on Tuesday. But he warned that Beijing’s “increasing assertiveness affects our security” as well as challenging the rules-based international order.
The statement from NATO countries over the systemic challenges posed by Beijing came ahead a meeting between the leaders from the 31 alliance countries and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his counterparts from Japan, Korea and New Zealand.
The Chinese mission to the European said in a statement the China-related content of the communique disregarded basic facts, distorted China’s position and policies, and deliberately discredited China.
“We firmly oppose and reject this,” it said.
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