Australia will send more cash and military support to Ukraine to help their fight against invading Russian forces.
Cabinet has rubberstamped an additional $110 million for Ukraine and the funds will cover a range of areas, bringing Australia’s total contribution to $790m, including $610m of military assistance.
Armoured vehicles, special operations vehicles, trucks and artillery ammunition is included in the freshly minted package, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed.
“This is a significant commitment but it is one that is necessary,” he said.
Albanese said this latest tranches of support and dozens of military vehicles will “make a real difference” and help the Ukrainian people who continue to “show great courage in the face of Russia’s illegal, unprovoked and immoral war”.
The hardware to be shipped into the battlefield includes 28 armoured trucks, 28 M113 armoured vehicles and 14 special operations vehicles.
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The funds will go towards helping the Ukrainian people with shelter, health services, clean water and sanitation.
Albanese said there was no connection between today’s announcement and the fleeting insurrection against Russia’s president Vladimir Putin.
“We have been working on this proposal with a view to taking it to cabinet this morning, for some time,” he said.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong said the Wagner group’s aborted march to Moscow demonstrated there were “divisions in Russia”.
An ADF deployment is in Britain now, engaged in training the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
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