Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, and pledged to bolster Australia’s military aid to the war-torn country.
After visiting liberated regions of Kyiv where residential apartments were bombed, the Prime Minister said Australia stood ready to support the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes.
“This is a war crime,” Mr Albanese said.
“Here we have what’s clearly a residential building. Another one just behind it, brutally assaulted.”
“These are homes and these are livelihoods and indeed lives that have been lost here in this town,” Mr Albanese 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.”
Mr Albanese, who visited amid tight security and a media blackout among travelling Australian media for security reasons, also spoke at a press conference alongside Zelensky as the Prime Minister promised to provide Ukraine with 14 more armoured personnel carriers, 20 more Bushmaster vehicles and drones.
This extra $100 million in aid is and increase to the $285 million in military assistance, which includes 40 Bushmasters, and $60 million in humanitarian assistance previously announced by the Morrison government.
“Australia stands ready to continue to support the Government and the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes for Ukraine to emerge victorious in defence of your national sovereignty and your homeland,” Mr Albanese told Mr Zelensky.
“Because you are fighting for the international rule of law, you are fighting for international rules in which we conduct our activity to be respected and to occur in an orderly way.”
Mr Zelensky welcomed the pledge of additional military support.
“I am pleased to welcome Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese to Kyiv. This is the first visit of the Australian Prime Minister to our capital in the history of our state relations. We appreciate and are grateful for your presence here with us at this time – the war of Russia against the Ukrainian people,” he said
Mr Albanese had been planning the trip to Ukraine for some time, as the Ukrainian government offered a formal invitation.
Albanese said, “One of the reasons why Australia has been invited to NATO is that Australia is the largest non-NATO contributor to give support to Ukraine in its defence of its national sovereignty against Russia’s illegal, immoral invasion, and we will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine.”
Image credits: Getty Images
This article first appeared on OverSixty.