08 APRIL 2022 By: Charbel Kadib
The Commonwealth government has announced yet another military assistance package for Ukraine, supplementing its delivery of Bushmaster vehicles.
Anti-armour weapons and ammunition are set to be delivered to the Ukrainian Armed Forces under a new $26.5 million assistance package announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
The specific details of the new package, or delivery arrangements have not been disclosed, in line with directions from both Ukraine and international partners.
This latest commitment, which forms part of a broader international effort to support Ukraine’s resistance to Russian aggression, takes the combined value of military assistance from Australia to approximately $191.5 million.
The announcement came just hours after the Prime Minister confirmed Australia would gift Ukraine 20 Thales-built Bushmasters, including two ambulance variants.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had requested the locally-built armoured personnel carriers during his remote address to a joint sitting of Federal Parliament last Thursday evening (31 March).
The Bushmasters have been painted olive green to better suit Ukraine’s battlefield environment, with a Ukrainian flag painted on either side alongside “United with Ukraine” in English and Ukrainian while the ambulance variants will represent the standard Red Cross.
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The vehicles are reportedly furnished with radio, GPS and “additional bolt-on armour”, with training of the systems to be conducted via video.
The Bushmaster commitment followed a pledge to deliver tactical decoys, unmanned aerial and unmanned ground systems, rations and medical supplies.
“Our government will continue to identify opportunities for further military assistance where it is able to provide a required capability to the Ukraine Armed Forces expeditiously,” Prime Minister Morrison said in a joint statement with Minister for Defence Peter Dutton.
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“Australia may be thousands of kilometres away but we’re standing side by side with Ukraine against this illegal invasion with arms, equipment, aid and even energy sources.
“This fight is important because not only are Ukrainian lives and their lands at stake, but so are the principles of freedom and the rule of law.”
The government has also previously announced the provision of $65 million in humanitarian assistance, 70,000 tonnes of thermal coal, and the granting of temporary protection visas and support for Ukrainian community groups in Australia.
“Australia stands with the people of Ukraine, and again calls on Russia to cease its unprovoked, unjust and illegal invasion of Ukraine,” Prime Minister Morrison and Minister Dutton added.
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