Australia will provide its largest single military assistance package to Ukraine, worth almost $250 million.
Defence Minister Richard Marles announced the support at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC, where he met with Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelenskyy to reaffirm Australia’s commitment to Ukraine in its defence against Russia’s invasion.
Minister Marles said the latest military assistance package included:
- Air defence missiles.
- Air-to-ground weapons, including guided weapons.
- Anti-tank weapons.
- Artillery, mortar, cannon, and small arms ammunition.
- A shipment of boots.
He said the commitment took Australia’s military assistance to Ukraine to more than $1.1 billion since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, and overall assistance to more than $1.3 billion.
“Building on Australia’s reputation as a highly regarded partner, Australia will also join NATO’s new security and training initiative for Ukraine as an operational partner,” he said.
“This is in addition to the training of Ukrainian recruits being undertaken by Australian Defence Force personnel in the United Kingdom, as part of Operation KUDU.”
Minister Marles said during his visit to Washington he also joined other partners in signing the Memorandum of Understanding on the Drone Capability Coalition.
He said this followed the Federal Government’s $30 million commitment to provide drones to Ukraine, as part of this Coalition.
